Teenage Bottlerocket, Bannter Pilot, Stymie, No Heroes

Raise your fist, stomp the accelerator and crank out the hooks. It ain't rocket science, but neither is most heart-pumping rock'n'roll.

Wyoming's Teenage Bottlerocket takes their cue from the Ramones and Screeching Weasel, specializing in catchy, high-energy irreverence delivered over a fiery backbeat and guitar crunches crackling like peanut brittle. They threaten a "Bloodbath at Burger King," tell their shit-talking fair-weather friends it's "Not OK" and brashly suggest they'll be "Bigger Than KISS," even as they slag the band: "Gene Simmons looks cool/But Paul Stanley kinda looks like a jag/Ace Freehley can play guitar/But he ain't no Kari King."

The quartet formed nearly a decade ago after the dissolution of Brandon and Ray Carlisle's old band, Homeless Wonders, led to serious soul-searching, and ultimately ditching the Fugazi-inspired guitar in favor of a less complicated, more visceral approach. Donning leather jackets in honor of the Ramones, they underwent several lineup changes before recruiting Kody Templeman (The Lillingtons) to share guitar and songwriting chores. Their third studio album (and first for Fat Wreck Chords), They Came From the Shadows, is exponentially tighter, punchier and more assured than prior releases, reclaiming punk-pop's old-school swagger and tongue-in-cheek menace from the Sum 41s of the world.