Reviews

I remember a few years ago when I was first getting into punk music, MxPx were one of those hugely popular, yet still respected, punk bands. Sadly, since that time they've become something that any self-respecting 'punk' would call a sell-out. Whilst I've always enjoyed any music that MxPx have made, I find that they're not doing anything new on this release, and have become quite stale. With their last album, The Ever Passing Moment, MxPx had definitely evolved into nothing more than a typical pop-punk band. This new album sounds to me like an obvious attempt to gain back some of their past fans by moving away from "generic" pop punk, and by adding some variety back into their music, something they desperately needed. While many might consider this a good move, it has certainly proved to be otherwise in my eyes. Many of the tracks are boring, and about a minute too long. I don't know if I'd even call this pop punk anymore... there's so much "variety" that I don't know what to call it, if I even need to call it anything at all... but I digress. Some might say that a positive to come from this album is that the lyrics aren't all about girls -- the stuff most pop punk bands push out today. That's not true. They do cover a few issues that are a bit deeper than "I got dumped today", but overall, it's just about girls. I can count at least 8 of the tracks on this album that involve the opposite sex. Musicians are free to write about whatever they like of course, but I am trying to analyse the hell out of this so that's what I'm doing. To avoid losing your interest, I thought I would point out that there are some standout tracks on this album, such as track 2, "Play It Loud", which is about as close to punk rock as this album comes, the fun "Well Adjusted", and the original and musically rich "Don't Walk Away." There's enough here to make the album worth listening to, but not much more. To wrap this up, I have to use that age-old reviewer's line: If you like MxPx, you'll probably like this, but not as much as previous releases. It's a solid album, but not a must-have.
Guest review by:
Grant O.
Punk United.com