Being tagged a ska band whereas their tempos belie that pigeon hole, the Aggrolites have sought to make a music as drenched in island styles as anything else. And over time, it seems that they’ve succeeded at their task. With an ever expanding fan base due to a few high profile tours with Flogging Molly and the like, the Aggrolites have worked to spread their soul drenched gospel of rock steady. On occasion, the band still seems to be tossed off as a revival group, but the past of lead guitarist and singer Jesse Wagner refutes that. And even if it didn’t, the fact that a nascent Aggrolites backed up Derrick Morgan on one of his last tours of the States lends a credence to the band that would otherwise have been lacking.

Initially releasing a disc entitled Dirty Reggae back in 2003, the progression of the band has been pretty apparent. From that first full length with its simplistic songwriting set next to some tough instrumentals, the band’s Hellcat debut ratcheted up the compositions while still maintaining a rugged skinhead sound. The sprawling self titled album from 2006 announced to the masses that a new era of JA music in the States had arrived. Of course John Brown’s Body had been working out a roots sound for close to a decade by that point, but the New Yorkers sound a bit paltry when compared to these west coast players.

The following Reggae Hit L.A. found the Aggrolites incorporating more of a late ‘70s sound into their music that, at times, didn’t allow for the band’s best attributes to be featured. And while the album was anything but a failure, the 2009 release of IV finds the band in fine form, recalling past successes. Of course, the lead off, “Firecracker,” is basically an average soul jam void of too much JA influence – and a strange choice as an opener. But as the album progresses, it’s easy to forget about that initial misstep.

And in fact, as the album progresses, each song has the ability to recall some esoteric JA player that deserves his due. The morose work of Derrick Harriott is immediately referenced on “Brother Jacob” as the story of a murderer being set in the ground gets a quick going over. Even the dusty western influence is present with the acoustic piano chiming in to summon a wooden barroom replete with vagrants in cowboy hats.

There’ve been other bands within the last decade to mine the skinhead reggae sound – Deals Gone Bad being the most well known – but none to the extent of the Aggrolites. And with the backing of one of music’s most powerful and financially successful indie labels, the Los Angeles based group doesn’t seem to be loosing steam. At what point, though, is it going to be enough? The medium isn’t too expansive – and if Reggae Hit L.A. was the group’s experiment, where to now? The Aggrolites needn’t answer, though, if they continue to crank out premo schlock like IV.