Eighteen songs by 18 different local bands, with all the proceeds going to a campaign to reduce drunken driving among the young ---- "San Diego Rockers for Life 2007" is a solid collection of local music benefiting a worthy cause. (San Diego is one of 17 cities having a Rockers for Life compilation.)

Although there's no information on how the bands were selected, the dozen and a half bands chosen are a pretty fair cross-section of San Diego's rock scene. All of the bands included here are active, playing out and recording their own CDs.

The musical styles lean toward the hard-core rock side of things. Not until the fifth track, Trent Hancock's "Stay," is there anything that isn't hard, metal or screamo. Almost two-thirds of the tracks here are in those styles. Toward the end, Vista's Clay Colton Band and Bob Martin (Alpine) lend a bit of a country/Americana tinge to things.

Other bands included are Oceanside's Decompression, Temecula's American Hitmen (an all-Marine band), Black Sunday, Innocent Noise, Unbeknown, Silver Side, Vinyl 45, Critical Me, No Practical Reason, Down With Leo, Craze, Trisula, Blyth, Hector's Revenge and Burn Proper, since moved to L.A.

And given that each band would want to contribute its one best track, most of the songs on here are pretty darned good ---- a kind of greatest hits set from the region's hard rock community. It's a quick and easy way to get up to speed on what's happening on the local scene.

"San Diego Rockers for Life 2007" can be purchased from the participating bands or ordered from myspace.com/sandiegorockersforlife.