Labels: Boss Tuneage
Review by: Russell Opie
Finally the album gets released! The bands Not as Punk as You 7″ was a big hit here at Collective when it came out goodness knows how long ago. So naturally I’ve been looking forward to this every since really. For anyone who doesn’t know, Scarper! play twin guitared pop-punk backed with a trumpet. But they aren’t really one of these generic UK pop-punk bands at all. They have their own musical personality that makes them stand out from the crowd somewhat.
The album opens up with a couple of belters. “Invitation Elsewhere” and “Words Apart” are classic Scarper! being totally infectious pop songs that match, if not surpass, the debut 7″ in quality. There are 12 tracks on here in total and I don’t think I’ve found a rubbish one. Its all good, steady and consistent. But the band break the mould with “Whispering” which heads in more of an emo-pop direction. I like it when bands do something unexpected though, and it is actually a really good song. I love it. In fact the whole packaging looks very emo. Nice. And I even got limited edition number 20/150 with four little screws in the spine part of the plastic case. Aren’t you just so jealous?
This album was probably one of the biggest surprises of the year so far for me. Just take a listen to “Wipeout the Day” – a song so catchy you’ll be singing the chorus out loud. Reminds me heavily of Limp. And in the realm of pop-punk, does a comparison come any higher than that? Well, basically, no. Come on, you know this is going to be a sure thing. A very impressive debut album indeed.