Portland, Maine's, Steiner Street is gearing up for the release of their debut album, Time & Temperature. With a scheduled release date of April 21 (Record Store Day), the album will drop courtesy of Pennsylvania's own, Third Time Lucky Rekords. For fans of Title Fight, Daggermouth, and Saves The Day, Steiner Street lay down 8 fast, aggressive, catchy and melodic Punk Rock songs on Time & Temperature that will surely please fans of old and new.
The opener, I Should've Never Had A Birthday, begins with a neat little guitar riff that with one booming tom hit, soon progresses into a feel-good part with a nostalgic lead guitar that lays the groundwork and defines what this album is all about. As soon as the vocals come in we are immediately reminded of bands like Daggermouth, who also pursue an aggressive vocal style, but this is not a bad thing. With back and forth melodies between the primary and secondary vocalists, Steiner Street provides a fresh vocal approach that falls somewhere in between Title Fight and Saves the Day.
The next three tunes follow suit giving the audience gritty, fast, and relentless Pop Punk. With unique lead guitars in Fish In A Barrel, a catchy dance along party part in Lightshined, and guitars that will make listeners feel like their back in the ‘90s rocking out to early Blink in Make It Count, these dudes prove they know how to craft together fast, happy, and most of all catchy songs. Make It Count is a classic song about forgetting all the bullshit of everyday life and focusing on good times with good friends that will surely appeal to Pop Punk kids worldwide. Although a common topic in today's scene, lines like "a night ahead of singing our songs, all I'm thinking is what could go wrong?" and "late for the party, but they'll all know, when we walk through those doors, we’ll give them a show", ultimately relate to kids on so many levels that it doesn't matter if the theme of friendship is played out. Songs like this allow people to reflect on those that are by their side through thick and thin.
The latter half of Time & Temperature however, does not live up to its former. With a weird finger-tapping breakdown that is just miles out of place in Frost and open chord, chugging verses in Run Ourselves Ragged that are reminiscent of the numerous boring "Happy Hardcore" bands out there today, these songs act as filler. Steiner Street in my opinion should have stayed true to their roots with the fast punk beats and two-steps that give this band its character. However, the band brings everything back into perspective with the sing along Hey Prew, and its fluent transition into the epic Quite Literally The Drink That Killed Him. These two revert back to the ballpark that Steiner Street plays so well in and ultimately round off this album perfectly.
Thus, Time & Temperature is an honest and adequate, but at the same time average and satisfactory album. Steiner Street doesn't really bring anything new to the table with this one but ultimately makes good-old, fast Punk Rock music and do it well. They are pushing themselves and the genre forward with a solid album released by a record label that is doing good things for the up-and-coming Pop Punk scene. Make sure to get your hands on Steiner Street's Time & Temperaturecoming out on Record Store Day, April 21, 2012 on Third Time Lucky Rekords.
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Written by Andrew Eichinger
