Taking this punk rock tune strictly based on its musical merits, it’s a cool tune. It has a lot of energy and is quite angry, yet has a catchy hook. It’s really important to understand the process involved in the creation of the song to truly appreciate it, though. As much as the piece feels organic and natural, it was actually created by re-writing the lyrics to an older love song. The newer angrier lyrics were written while keeping the syllables and melody unchanged. That’s a pretty impressive feat in itself, earning this some kudos from a technical stand-point before it even spins.
Drums start the track and give way to a motif that feels a bit like some of the more modern pop punk. When it hits the chorus, though, there’s more of a sneering growl to the vocals. This track is definitely angry. It has a lot of energy and the bass line is quite interesting for such a raw, punk tune. There’s a cool growling scream. The guitar solo section that follows has an almost cheesy sound, but it lends some real character to the piece. One thing that’s unusual for a lot of punk is the fact that it includes synthesizer. Even more interesting is the fact that the synthesizer, along with the drums, were created by an iPad and designed to emulate classic hardware.
While the technical aspects are impressive and the song itself is entertaining, it’s not without its flaws. The main one is that the vocals are often a bit hard to take. That lends some charm when it comes to a punk rock song, but it also means this is likely to turn more than a few people away from it. Of course, the demographic that is most likely to really enjoy this understands that it’s more about the anger and passion of punk rock vocals than it is musicality.
Review by G.W. Hill
Rating: 3.5 Stars (out of 5)
