Labels: self released
Review by: Joe Caithness
OK, first impression was how annoying it is to get a press release that is longer than the actual record (someone’s been reading Rock Sound or something…), but after about 30 seconds of track 1, this band are forgiven. I also don’t get how a record which is “self released” has a full spread of hyperbole written by someone else… but we’ll let that one lie now.
It’s a pretty cool thing these guys have got going on. Being someone who got pretty jaded about “melodic punk” when everyone who worked out a minor chord seemed to think they were Samiam and a lot of bands with terrible fake Hot Water Music vocals seemed to sprout up everywhere, this has that extra bit of guts that makes you wanna tap your feet and learn the lyrics to the chorus. Short and sharp 2 and half minute songs with a nice breakdown and angry bits and the odd gang vocal compliment each nicely.
They throw up a nice balance of rousing “drunk on your own and sad, but we’re all in it together” kinda moments (See pretty much every Jawbreaker song ever) and balls out rock. It rocks particularly hard when they strip it all down and have the grunts from the next room over some softer vocals, proper Small Brown Bike-ism, works so well with this kinda sound. The last tune is suitably a rousing twinkly guitar bit, they obviously took care over the song order, not enough bands do and it really shows. There is a song about not brushing your teeth though, what’s that all about?!
Oh yeah and bands: put the bloody track titles on the artwork, I can’t read the CD when its spinning around inside my computer!
PS. The band would like to point out the CD is available on MP3 for free at http://www.powerplantind.com/FOF.