Critic's Choice

If any more proof was needed to bolster the claim that the public education system -- and, indeed, society itself -- is barreling straight into the crapper, behold Forth Yeer Freshman. The arch-nemesis of intellectuals and spellchecks everywhere, FYF has been wrecking eardrums and test scores across Colorado and the Midwest for the last seven years, culminating in its 2001 full-length debut, Drunkinomicon. The followup, Psychobabble, was just released, and it's a sick, shitfaced culmination of hardcore and metal that resurrects the misanthropic thrash of Stormtroopers of Death, Day Glo Abortions and Suicidal Tendencies. The disc takes on and makes waste of everyone from the Insane Clown Posse to the entire population of England, as singer Aaron Howell growls developmentally disabled couplets like, "Suck my dick and choke on it/Sounds like Shakespeare, doesn't it?" But Psychobabble's cover pretty much says it all: Designed by Dave Brockie, otherwise known as Oderus Urungus of Gwar, the artwork depicts George Bush Senior vomiting gleefully into Dubya's exposed brain. FYF will be celebrating the release of its latest flunk-rock masterpiece at the Bluebird Theater on Thursday, August 12, with Total Annihilation, DDC and the Allergies. Don't get held back.