Kevlar is a quartet from Sweden that, strangely enough, plays an energetic brand of D.C. post-punk a la Fugazi and, particularly, Jawbox. Discordant guitars underpin propulsive rhythms and semi-angry vocals that somehow manage to incorporate harmonies over top all the raucous noise. This music may be groundbreaking in Sweden but in America it is a tired genre with few standouts anymore. It is uncanny how American this band actually sounds. The vocals are especially deceiving without even the slightest trace of a Swedish accent. Kevlar has done its homework; Let Me Worry Some More has all the right ingredients to fit right in with the D.C. crowd: disjointed changes, impassioned vocals about ambiguously personal issues, pounding drums, and unconventional melodies.

The band also cites the likes of Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver as influences, but these bands are less obvious elements in Kevlar’s slightly derivative mix. Each song hovers over the same semi-anthematic ground, leaving little room for any track to make a distinct impression. Things get appropriately noisy but it’s all relatively homogenized. “Construction Work” could easily be off Jawbox’s second album, Novelty. I am amazed by how many bands imitate Jawbox these days. Jawbox never failed to bore me into oblivion every time I saw it live. If you don’t mind being nostalgic, Let Me Worry Some More will take you right back to the early 90’s when records like Steady Diet Of Nothing and Novelty were the blueprints for every hungry DIY punk band.