Given that the Humanoids attack guitar strings and drumheads with the fury of a thousand pubescent teenagers, it's refreshing that their tunes are so damn singable. The five hardcore scene veterans in the band cut their teeth in local thrashy outfits such as Step On It! and Kill Me Kate before ditching the discord and embracing the melodic hardcore stylings of '90s punks No Use for a Name and Seaweed. This nostalgia for the angsty riffs of yesterdecade permeates everything from Greg Stinson's mile-a-minute power chords to Tim Clarkson's throaty refrains. Even the cartoonish artwork on the excellent EP The Humanoids Are Born raises suspicions that the Humanoids may actually be half men and half robots who have built a time machine and traveled back ten years to a simpler time in the history of punk rock. In fact, the group wouldn't be out of place playing on a Warped Tour side stage in 1997.