Remember when easycore was a thing? They were good times. While it’s not quite ‘in vogue’ right now, it was a pretty big part of the pop punk landscape a few years ago, so there’s nothing wrong with a little throwback from time to time. Sadly, however, there is a lot wrong with The Cavalry Is Us’ debut EP, ‘Cheers To Being Bad People’.
Sub-genres aside, pop punk can be fairly predictable at the best of times, but the way in which TCIU have managed to stumble headfirst into every cliché going would be damn near impressive if it didn’t stray so dangerously close to self-parody at times. Almost every verse here is backed by one of the same four palm muted picking patterns we’ve heard a thousand times before (you know the ones), “We’re gonna party with our friends” is an actual lyric used and, while there’s no set limit for such things, someone has to have a word with them about where to draw line when it comes to using gang vocals responsibly.
One of the biggest problems, though, is that The Cavalry Is Us seem to have missed the ‘first impressions are important’ memo, meaning that they open with, by far, their weakest song. It’s uphill from there on, but that won’t matter if no one makes it past the first track. It’s a pretty safe bet that these guys are quite keen on a bit of Four Year Strong, too, and there are more than a few moments on the EP where the line between homage and imitation ends up being toed a little too closely – not least the “Here I am! / Here I Stand!” refrain in ‘The Comeback’.
In fairness to them, this is only their first release and they do what they do relatively well. The title track shows some real promise and is head and shoulders above the rest of the record. Still, until they step out of the shadows of their predecessors and have those moments more frequently, it’s hard to imagine too many people taking notice.
RYAN DE FREITAS