If I rated CDs on the quality of their front covers, then ‘Stomping Ground’ would win hands down, and be named album of the year. Fortunately for you, Punktastic hasn’t yet descended into such farcical nature – (damn good CD cover though) – and what we find here is what can only be described as disappointment. You see, in my opinion, they stray from what they do best here, and unfortunately all that’s left is a desolate wasteland populated by single cell amoeba. Anyone who’s anyone knows that a few good songs do not a great album make.
Anyway, on with the track list and first up is..’I’m down’ a massive departure from the excellent ska/punk riffs of ‘Hang Ups; the whole song is resolutely staple pop-punk, maintaing the same rhythm for most of the song – we’ve seen and heard it a million times before, and it isn’t done especially well here. Sure John Feldmann’s (lead) lyrics are distinctive and strong as ever, but that isn’t enough to save this – can you see where this is going? ‘Pick a fight’ doesn’t get much better – but it has to be said that yet again, like most of the album, the vocals are incredible and carry the CD enormously. Disappointingly, most of the tracks just as fly by as you sit there with indifference to it all; ‘Carry on‘ at least introduces a different rhythm, but all feeling seems to have blurred and coated endlessly with layers of polished guitar.
The bounding schizophrenic ‘The End of the Day’ provides a bit of musical variety; but is someone bitching about petty things for an entire song something you want to hear? It conjures images of an upset kid in their early teens slamming their bedroom door. By the time ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’ comes around, you know exactly what to expect; and unfortunately it continues the same old pattern. Having said this, following on is ‘Counting The Days’, a song not dissimilar to those before it, yet it stands head and shoulders above the rest; for the first time on the album, a song with sing-a-long lyrics and melodies ‘Stop counting the days i’ve been without you.. 1, 2, 3, 4!’ – and it turns out to be one of the few to rescue this tired record. Next up, a far heavier ‘Bro’, which doesn’t achieve what it sets out to do by any means; angst from Goldfinger doesn’t work well, and here it just seems oh so out of place, possibly embarrassing the rest of the songs.
‘San Simeon’ scores instant points with the intro, as you sit back and pretend you’re sipping margaritas on a beach – and just as you begin to get comfortable, the guitars come crashing in, and we have another hit on our hands, right up to the crescendo at the end – one track that truly deserves to be played loud. ‘You think it’s a joke’, and ‘Forgiveness’ follow an all too familiar pattern to the earlier songs. ‘Margaret Ann’ finds some Goldfinger form, in it’s own quirky way, along with ’99 Red Balloons’ which incorporates a little bit of German for all you bilingual kids out there.
All in all I found myself skipping a hell of a lot through this album; getting frustrated and quickly putting ‘Hang Ups’ back in the CD player, just so my brain would release some endorphins. It’s a very average record – buy the aforementioned record instead, and leave this for when you’ve got nothing better to do.
nick