This is the second full-length of melodic punk rock with street punk and oi influences from this Swedish act whose most recent EP didn't quite win me over. I feel similarly about this record, as I like the music, but the vocals aren't really working for me. The singing is really high-pitched and kind of sounds like a weird hybrid of The Exploited and the Dead Kennedys, while the music is midpaced punk rock with some melodic lead lines and a few slightly heavier chord progressions on occasion. It's not bad, I rarely listen to this particular style of punk, but I think these guys are good songwriters that definitely have some potential under their belts. A few of the slower songs like "Going Home" and "Mother Misfortune and the Freewheeling Cog" are pretty weak, but "Wanna Be Ignorant" has an almost pop-punk sound with some stop/start picking patterns and prominent bass work, "The Only Way I Know" is faster and more hard-hitting, "Leaving Boredom" is catchier and a little chunkier overall, etc. The singing isn't that bad all the time, it just starts to break up and get a little inconsistent, and I think the forceful backup shouts are more effective overall. A singing style definitely makes sense with the melodic and borderline catchy songwriting, but the performance here is a little too irritating to pull it off. And sometimes the playing gets a little rugged on the lead lines, but other than that the performances are tight and the recording is fairly good. The mix is generally cohesive and the tones are solid. The bass isn't as evident as one might expect, and the drums lack some density, but the guitars sound good and the end result works. The high-pitched nature of the vocals draws them a little closer to the front, but everything is kept in check pretty well throughout. It's a little rugged, but I'm not bothered by that based on the band's overall delivery. The layout? Ehhh. So-so. It looks okay, but some of the images are cheesy and the text is a little plain. It gets things done, though. Lyrically the material is sort of humorous, which isn't my thing, definitely taking a lighthearted slant on everything from storytelling type of stuff to subtly making fun of Nazi skinheads or plain old everyday hardships. I'm not really into that whole hokey sort of style though, but I can understand that they seem to be having fun, so... This is another decent effort from the band, but I'm still not convinced. They've got talent, and I think the writing on the new EP is more consistent, but something's missing here as well. I'm honestly starting to think based on these songs that maybe a more aggressive lead vocal performance wouldn't be a bad thing at all? And keep the tempos in the faster range, too! Those songs are much more effective.
[Brickland]
Running time - 32:31, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Wanna Be Ignorant, The Only Way I Know, Leaving Boredom]
Gasman - http://listen.to/gasman/
