The emo-punk-pop sounds of Ace Troubleshooter surfaced early in 2000 and gave the scene a sound which you felt was familiar, but didn’t quite hit the mark. Sounding like all your favourite bands in each genre compressed into an album, the result was intresting and saw you listening to a bit of emo and some well tuned poppunk. But does it work? Well Yes and No…
Title track ‘Madness of the Crowds’ gets the album underway in energetic fashion and you can chalk this one up to bouncy punk with swirling vocals which actually work rather well. The song doesn’t let up and is a strong start to the album. ‘2:00 of your time’ brings us back down to earth with a pacey number charting the pain of having your other half in a different timezone. Those Americans sure do have it rough! It is somewhat reminiscent of a more upbeat Get Up Kids song and is guaranteed to get your dancing. ‘Have it All’ slows us down again for a standard affair but a highlight of the album is coming up next in ‘Amanda’.
‘Amanda is only 17 years old but she is too young yeah, she is too young!’ Very upbeat, very energetic and rather good. ‘Age of Gold’ and ‘Estella’ are energetic and slow and slushy respectively with neither really hitting the spot. ‘Estella’ shows promise but never really finds any momentum.
‘Out to Sea’ is pure pop-punk and is a mighty fine effort, and has single written all over it with a infectiously catchy chorus. ‘Mothra (But for Grace)’ has a darker edge to it and to hark back to more comparisons reminds you of Brand New. The edge and the bitterness seem to suit the song and band nicely. Maybe another section they could explore more. ‘Lets Go Away’ is a standard effort with penultimate track ‘Numinous’ proving a worthy predescor to the superb final effort of ‘Your Reach’. It’s uplifting and bouncy which is sure to please the masses.
Ace Troubleshooter are relatively unknown on these shores, but that really should be changing. They seem to flit between emo and pop-punk effortlessly, but you feel they need to decide on a path to choose to further the band. Personally I feel there talent lies in the upbeat tracks and that is where there direction should try and head. Otherwise this album would be a great find for that special someone in ya life!