Once again the UK has proven that it has what it takes to compete with the North America Pop-Punk scene. With great releases this year from Sharks and Basement and finally Walled City's Above The Underground, the UK is strong with young British talent. Above The Underground's Autumns, the band's eclectic sophomore release is a catchy 6-song EP with stellar musicianship, variety and production. The album will be available for free download on May 18th through Lazy Bear Records.
Anchors, the first tune, showcases the bands dark, slightly heavier, style of Pop-Punk perfectly. Immediately, vocalist Will Kirkman's voice stands out with great melodies and range over a booming rhythm section. His voice and lyrical work is top notch and his accent is emphasized tastefully. The highlight of this song is the bridge where the line “don’t ever say that you are different, when you’re bringing down everyone you know” is belted and soon followed by gang vocals, which close out the song.
For What It's Worth continues in the same fashion with a very similar structure to its former and again showing off the songwriting skills of these young lads. The third track and the first single off the EP, Under The Weather is catchy as hell with woahs that will surely be stuck in your head after a listen or two, but the song runs a little bit long at 4:07, especially for a single. The breakdown in the middle seems a bit unnecessary and would take some time off the song if removed, but it works with the sound they are going for and will appeal to a lot of kids.
The next song, Lights, starts off with what sounds like an Angels & Airwaves riff, which proceeds into a very cliché breakdown. With no vocals besides some more woahs, this is a filler track that will often be skipped over. Close Your Eyes And Drive has one of the best choruses on the release and contains some intricate lead and rhythm guitar parts that work well with the Kirkman’s vocals. The final track MMIX contains a very cheesy and weird sounding synth sample and a chorus with the overdone line “stay young”, repeated a bunch of times, both of which are huge turnoffs and make for a disappointing end to this great release.
Besides a few songs and some breakdown parts that could have been left out, Autumns, is a very good Pop-Punk record with awesome production quality that is definitely worth a free download and a listen. Look out for this band touring throughout the UK and hopefully North America in the near future.
Rating:
Written by Andrew Eichinger
