CAFFEINE have been around for years, and in their history they’ve had some big support slots, notably BLINK 182 and THE OFFSPRING, but those were a long time ago now and the band have almost faded into obscurity now, so when I received this five-track E.P. to review I was a little weary that it’d be hanging on to the band’s former glories. But at least they haven’t become an identikit screamo-band.
This E.P. has impressed me more than I thought it would, I’ll say that from the off. This is because, to be honest, I was basically expecting really bad and clichéd pop-punk record. I was wrong, but it isn’t in a completely different ballpark as there’s a strict adherence to all the rules of melodic-power-pop-punk across all the tracks and the more I listen to this E.P. the more resemblance I hear to Bleed American-era JIMMY EAT WORLD especially on the slower tracks, (see ‘Shut my Eyes‘ for instance) not that this is a bad thing.
All the tracks on this E.P. are harmless enough and generally pretty safe, so if you’re after something abrasive and genre-defying then I wouldn’t put this on your shopping list. However, what CAFFEINE do on this E.P. is school us all in how to write consistently solid, structurally sound and generally well written songs; there’s a good few bands on the UK circuit at present who could do with listening to this record before they go into the studio next. It all just goes to show what experience can do for a band. The production is spot on throughout and the brief experimentation with keys and drum loops adds a nice touch and gives extra depth to the release without falling into the clutches of pretentiousness.
For what this record is, it’s good, you won’t find much better in the UK, so if you take it on face value you can’t really go wrong with it but there is that special something missing which in turn stops it truly standing out. And what it won’t do, and I’ll it say rather bluntly; is set the world alight, although I don’t think the intention of doing so was ever there. Make of that what you will, but this is a solid release overall.
Mike
www.caffeineuk.com
New York Entertainment