I use the phrase ‘musical maturity’ a little too often in reviews on PT. It’s satisfying when you hear a band’s latest output and they’ve cranked the quality up a notch. All or Nothing were always a decent band, but with this new EP, their first for Zone 6, they’ve really set the marker by showing just how good they can be. While the last record was full of short, sharp Set Your Goals-esque gems, this new one focuses on the song structures a lot more – the songs are longer and more drawn out, the emphasis not always on the snappy or the punchy.
And it works. With the current trend of bashing out riffs and breakdowns set to a pop-punk beat reaches saturation point, AON stand out for trying something a little different. It doesn’t always work – there’s a section in the middle of this EP which seems to lose it’s way a little – but in the main it’s bold step, a la Crime In Stereo with ‘Is Dead’. This should be the record which takes AON to the next level. At least it should be…