Throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s there was a punk rock scene that didn’t need to rely on any kind of commercial appeal to gain a solid fan base, and had enough depth to their music without needing to ever ‘sell out’. Bands like Pennywise, No Use For A Name, Good Riddance and many more would conduct worldwide tours to critical acclaim, and release solid albums time and time again. Lagwagon were part of that crowd, and have returned with their first new album since 2005’s ‘Resolve’, and in the back of your mind its hard not to think wether or not in 2014 that ‘Hang’ is going to be relevant to todays punk scene.
A few songs into the album you begin to realise that ‘Hang’ is relevant in 2014. Tracks like ‘Reign’ and ‘Cog In The Machine’ use the typical Lagwagon formula from which they created classic SoCal punk that was present on albums ‘Hoss’ and ‘Double Plaidinum’ in the 90’s. There also seems to be an added bite to the songs, as ‘Western Sentiments’ has a Propaghandi style, almost metallic crunch to it. One thing that would have been nice to see more of on here is maybe a longer, or another, acoustic song, as the inclusion of ‘Burden Of Proof’ breaks the album up, but at less than a minute long it is over too quickly. However the album picks up again after this brief respite and is unrelenting until the end, with ‘In Your Wake’ bringing back memories of old skate video soundtracks, and ‘Made Of Broken Parts’ will surely be igniting circle-pits in the live arena. By virtue any punk album may sound repetitive to the untrained ear, but the songs on ‘Hang’ carry the same depth they always have throughout Lagwagon’s discography, and it is that depth which has provided them with such longevity.
Things take a turn with an out of character 6-minute track in the form of ‘Obsolete Absolute’, which builds from a sample laden intro into classic Lagwagon punk rock, which keeps things interesting. Once it kicks off you know you are in familiar territory with its machine gun drumming, lighting fast guitar work and uplifting vocal hooks. Then the somber, piano led beginning of ‘One More Song’ hits, and is a tribute to front man Joey Cape’s best friend Tony Sly of No Use For A Name who passed in 2012. The title of the song itself borrows from the closing chant of Tony Sly’s solo track ‘LIVR Let Die’, and anyone who knows of the relationship the two front men had would have expected a song about Sly to appear, and it is a fitting slice of pop-punk that almost brings a tear to the eye, and the perfect homage to Tony Sly.
From start to finish, ‘Hang’ is very much a Lagwagon album, and those familiar with them already are going to love it. The beauty in the album is that there is enough there to keep the faithful happy, and enough to hopefully draw in some new listeners who are just finding the punk community. It doesn’t break boundaries, and doesn’t tread any new ground, but ‘Hang’ is more than a nostalgic trip down memory lane for grown up ex-punks, and proves that Lagwagon are a well oiled machine who can still write brilliant punk songs after nearly 25 years in the game.
GLEN BUSHELL