Brad Marino
Agent Of Chaos
Jason Landry, contributor
The 2026 studio album Agent Of Chaos by New Hampshire native Brad Marino is equal part Garage Punk and straight-up melodic Rock ’n Roll. They’ve been known for making punchy, rock songs in the past with that pedal-to-the-metal attitude, and on this album, it’s more what you’d expect. Each track is a power chord banger with a wide, sonic sound, let alone the endless barrage of bass and drums that don’t ever quit. As the band moves from one song to the next, the listener barely gets a breather.
A Few Highlights
Brad’s vocals are a cross between Joey Ramone with a little bit of Elvis Costello inflections. You can hear it immediately on the opening track “Blowing Smoke”. Besides the heavy power chords, the thing that differentiates them from a band like The Ramones is that the guitar solos on each song are ever present and legit!
They drop the tempo down to a respectable level on the pop-infused “Dissin’ & Dismissin’” that has a very early Weezer resemblance. I got clingy relationship vibes on the track “Voodoo” with lyrics like:
Your like the witch doctor,
and I’m a shrunken head.
You won’t be happy until one of us is dead.
Brad’s vocal range drops down a register on the song “Murder and Violence” evoking memories of one of my favorite bands, The Jesus and Mary Chain. This change in mood also helps to shake things up, almost as if he’s contemplating moving on from something. “I Don’t Want You Anymore” is the perfect break up song that is clearly vocalized with no room for error.
I don’t need your hugging, I don’t need your kissin’,
I don’t need the things that you think I’m missin’,
Don’t need the trouble, don’t need the strife,
Who ever said I want you to be my wife?
The most complete track on the album in my opinion is “Calling Your Bluff”. It’s one of those three-chords and a melody that made bands like Social Distortion so popular.
As I delved deeper towards the core of this album (actually having to listen to it in its entirety twice before coming to this conclusion), I found it to be the musical interpretation of a relationship rollercoaster ride. The back half of this album continued on the same thread as Brad sings about being left high & dry on the track “Lost Without You”. He follows up with “Devil May Care” accompanied by this twangy pedal steel guitar in the background as he sings,…Get her outa your head, or you just might end up dead. “Sick of You” continues on this path with the lyrics, ...Baby I’m black & blue, yeah, and I’m sick of you.
On the closing track of the album, it all culminates into a hopeful ending for the couple on “Make This Last”…Let’s make this last, now into forever, Let’s make this last for good.
Agent Of Chaos seems to be a very personal attempt to write songs rather than go through couples therapy. Music does heal lots of things, including troubles in love. Overall, I found this album to be cohesive and simply put, pretty damn great.