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We’ve heard what can be done when you mix members from Guns N’Roses (Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum) with a member from Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland) and drummer Dave Kushner, but what do you get when you take Reach the Sky’s and Rise Against’s Chris Chasse, Ignite’s Brett Rasmussen, Nik Pitcitello and Steve Jennings formerly of the hardcore act Spark of Life, and add drummer Phillip Lee? You get the Last of the Believers, the latest hardcore punk band, specializing in the forgotten anthems that early punk was filled with.

The debut album Paper Ships Under a Burning Bridge from this hardcore punk band is full of everything a rocker would want: the thrashing percussion, screaming vocals, catchy hooks, and the list goes on. What had me hooked the first time I listened to it was the way in which each song is its own anthem. The album opens up with the hardcore Dissent which is full of the strong screaming vocal chords of Steve Jennings, only adding to the desire to join in the chorus “We don't care/This system can be bought”. Beginning with strong electric guitars and the drumbeat getting faster it ends just as strong with the Jennings’s protesting voice droning on until it disappears.

Throwing Matches follows beautifully by giving us an instant repeat of the hard sounds of Dissent, but Chris Chasse brings in a new dimension by taking the vocal lead and adding a nice melodic sound to Jennings’s background singing. If this song was not already one of the best on the album, the acoustic version closes the album and makes you love it all over again. The strumming bass guitar in between each chorus and the striking vocal harmonies make you want to listen to it over and over, even though the acoustic version is unnoticeable a minute longer than the rockin’ version. In A Long Time Coming, another melodic punk anthem, Chasse once again shows off his vocals and lets us sit back and marvel while Jennings gets us to jump up and chant “We’ll find a way”.

This album has many great songs that sets Last of the Believers off to an excellent start for their debut album and with only seven songs, you can only wish they included more. There were one or two songs that didn’t really do much for me and seemed to be monotonous, but for the most part I cannot wait until their sophomore album is released.