If All Or Nothing‘s last EP showed promise, this full-length proves the band were on the right lines. While not perfect, there are moments of sheer genius that scatter through ‘Dead Money’ in the same way Set Your Goals lit up the back end of 2006 for many of us. And as ‘Sweating At 6am’ made me want to sit up and take notice immediately, I did think we had a new contender for the UK’s melodic skate-punk crown. And while, for the most part, All Or Nthing hit the spot, I’d say narrowing this to 8-tracks of Phinius Gage-esque rockin’ would have had a better end result – as it is, the odd filler track leaves this sounding good rather than great.
‘Dead Money’ starts and finishes in exhilarating fashion. The aforementioned opener sounds brilliant, while the guitar solo that completes ‘Upstanding Citizens’ is a stroke of genius. Infact there are many excellent moments – the gang vocals that feature throughout are a nice touch, while ‘Coach trip’, ‘Here’s The Key’ and ‘It’s All About Personality’ are little crackers. I did get the impression a couple of tracks were samey and offered nothing new, but the fact is there aren’t many UK bands who play this type of music anymore and you can probably count on one hand the UK acts who do this better than AON. So if you like your pop-punk to be hard and fast, check these boys out now.