You Absolute Minger!,
BreakneckI love NOFX. I love bands who are similar to NOFX, but that break away from the familiar and throw in enough of their own ideas to be truly special – Pennywise, Buzztone, Lagwagon, Phinius Gage. Fast, melodic skate punk is my raison d’etre to be perfectly honest and with this demo from Breakneck I find myself faced with five excellent tracks which all sit a touch too close to being derivative for my liking.
Obviously bands emulating their heroes is nothing new, but when the line is crossed and the music becomes stifled because the template is being followed too closely, something’s got to be done. The thing is, with ‘Yours Truly’ and ‘The Hunk’ Breakneck have got a couple of fantastically energetic tracks that are effortlessly melodic and extremely fast, and really show off the band’s talents. They’re not afraid to dabble with long instrumental sections which retain the pace and tone of the song and don’t follow the usual verse-chorus-verse formula. The trouble is that you can hear the Ribbed-era NOFX and Double Plaidinum-era Lagwagon influence bursting from the seams making Breakneck sound like imitators – albeit at the top of the heap.
What struck me about this demo was that the band show that they can easily handle different sounds (the ska stomp of ‘Re-Energize’ is a departure from the skate punk riffing of previous songs) and complex songs with ease, but they appear unwilling to really try something different and forge their own identity. The simple idea of picking out the harmony on ‘A Genie To Save Me’ works superbly in setting aside some individuality but there aren’t enough moments which make you sit up and take notice. They even rip off the trademark Erik Melvin yelp on ‘No Twists’ when they don’t need to.
It might sound like I’ve been unduly harsh on Breakneck but that’s because on the strength of this demo they’re capable of something really special but seem to limit themselves by following a template too closely. Obviously they’ll never be NOFX but then again no band will – they should concentrate on being Breakneck because I think they could be fantastic given a bit more confidence. They’ve got the punk rock sensibilities, the melodic nous and the technical ability in spades so the only thing holding them back is themselves.
Ben
www.breakneck.fr.fm
breakneck_punk@hotmail.com
