Kevin Bronson on January 28th, 2013

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Matt Caughthran of the Bronx is the first to acknowledge he probably had 100 years of misadventures by the time he was 25. Now 10 years into his career as the vocal shredder in the L.A. hardcore punks, Caughthran lets his hindsight do the talking in the band’s new single “Youth Wasted.” “This song was different for me because it was a reflective time for me, time spent thinking about a lot of bad decisions I have made,” he says. “I’d like to think as a human I have the best intentions and that I’m a good person, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way and you look like a real piece of sh*t.” If that sounds mature, well, OK. And so is the Bronx’s “IV,” their first album in five years – time the band has spent juggling its Mariachi El Bronx project with its original persona. The new album, out Feb. 5, has a melodic sense the Bronx only flirted with on its first three albums while remaining uncompromisingly ferocious. The Bronx aren’t kids anymore, and they don’t sound like it, and their hard-charging years and war wounds show through on their best album yet.

||| Stream: “Youth Wasted”

||| Live: The Bronx play Saturday at Los Globos.

Photo of the Bronx at the Fonda Theatre in November by Carl Pocket