This modern version of Moving Targets have now released as many studio albums as the original iteration of the band, and if the format hasn’t changed too much then that’s a-okay with me because ‘Red Eyes’ is another doozy.
Ken Chambers, Yves Thibault and Emilien Catalano put their heads down and bosh through ten tracks of surging melodic punk that’s hewn from bright, ringing chords, propulsive basslines and yearningly desperate vocals. While the set-up’s admittedly simple there’s something about the band’s music that always manages to sink its hooks into my skull: a hard-to-pinpoint quality that suggests Chambers will always find a glint of hope in the darkness no matter how many swings life takes at him.
Amid bona fide shitkickers like ‘On The Run’ and ‘Nine Lives’ are occasional alt-rock twists that recall Foo Fighters and pre-electronic Radiohead, but the prevailing emphasis is on a time-honoured brand of punk that’s scrappy but soaring and harks back to the likes of Sugar, Hüsker Dü, Wipers and Arcwelder.