Reviews

The first song off this record is probably the second most refreshing thing I’ve heard in the poppy-punk genre in the past few months, the first being the new Dear and the Headlights album.

That album was refreshing for the fact that it felt like it barely fit within the genre conventions of what is recognized as pop-punk now. The refreshing aspect of Ice Nine Kills debut, The Burning, is that it takes the conventions of this tired and stale genre and breathes some new life into them. At least enough to resuscitate it long enough to get it to the hospital for someone else to save it.

The first song on The Burning is possibly the best way this band could have introduced itself to its audience. It grabs the listener and throws them through every hoop in the genre. Catchy hooks, sweet melodies, hardcore screaming, falsetto, and double-bass. I have been saying for years, there needs to be more double-bass in pop music (I’ve never said this, but after hearing this song, it makes me wonder why I haven’t). The song moves through so many different parts so fluidly and so naturally that it almost feels like an album in and of itself. The hardcore breakdowns, the slow pretty parts, and the nice pop melodies all work together so well that you think there’s no way the rest of the album can live up to this opening track. To some extent that’s true…

The album rarely reaches the originality or energy attributed to that first track anywhere else on the record. It’s not that the songs aren’t good, it’s just that all of the songs after the first sound like watered down versions of that first one.

The Burning is a solid debut from Ice Nine Kills. It’s going to be very interesting to see where this band goes from here. Either they’ll continue on the path of innovation in a stale genre or they’ll fall into the same rut as the rest of these bands and begin churning out the same record over and over and over again.

I sincerely hope that is not the case.