Labels: Dead And Gone
Review by: Damien Mills
So Dead & Gone have gone pop punk with this, or rather melodic punk rather than hideous Fat Wreck crap associated with the term ‘pop punk’ sometimes, and it’s pretty good actually. Sort of an anthemic yob punk Leatherface-meets-Rancid thing going on with added comedy scouse accents.
The subject matter of the songs is mostly about being on the dole and working class pride and stuff like that, which i have to say initially I was pretty cynical about. The modern hardcore scene is hardly well know for it’s strong working class contingent and as a result this could of been mega contrived, but thankfully it’s not too bad in that respect, though I can’t help but feel some of the people yelling along down the front would look a bit like characters from a punk version of Pulp’s ‘Common People’ video, but maybe that’s a bit patronizing, haha. However, and I’m not into nationalism at all, the fact that it seems to be so proudly, or maybe a better choice of words would be ‘comfortably’, English, rather than a 5th rate tribute to some shitty US band(s) like is so often the case, is quite comforting. I’m sick of modern uk ‘punk’ being about bad ska.
Overall if you are into some of the more melodic and upbeat No Idea/Newest Industry bands then you’ll probabaly be able to enjoy this, though if you hate songs where every other lyric is ‘wwwoooahh’ then stay well away…