Labels: Pigdog
Review by: Andy Malcolm
After a bunch of EPs over the past few years, Annalise come forth with a full length of sorts (10 songs over 25 minutes) and yes, it is as good as you were hoping. Hurrah!
Kicking off with the super cool single, “Signposts & Alleyways” they set the pace from the off. S&A is without doubt one of the finest songs you’ll hear this year. Totally driving, melodic punk which is so catchy and hook filled, they should invent a new metaphor for describing catchiness. It also sets the trend for a lot of the top notch lyrics on the album, being about the past and things changing. Just look at the song titles – “The Best Years Of Your Life” with its ‘tone-esque chorus, “Terminal Youth” and songs like “Selling Sand To The Arabs” that’s about how punk has changed over the years from more ‘revolutionary’ stuff like Crass to dull American bands who’re now just using the fashionability of punk to make a quick buck.
Mo’ Stoat 7″ track, “Johnny’s Not Mad” puts in an appearance with it’s highly danceable melodies and I just love the drumming on this one. There’s some dead poppy stuff, like “All The Time In The World” which appears to be a cover version, and the toe-tapping “Hit The Bottle” and “Don’t Go” which I reckon are the best poppy punk songs in ages. Not much trace of the more emo-ey stuff from the last EP, though “Just Kids” teases you for a minute with a long, slow-burning instrumental intro, before fading away.
Just got to comment on the packaging: wow! Ultra professional job here, how comes they sell it at such a cheap price? (£5.50 + postage by the way, which just goes to show how much the fucking chain stores are ripping people off, incidentally I saw the Spy vs Spy CD in one the other week for £9!!!!!!). Equal best UK album so far this year, although, ahem, I think I only have one other (Servo).