OK, I’m really considering docking this EP at least a couple of stars simply for the pure awfulness of the title. I don’t know if it’s meant to be a lame pun on alcohol intake but c’mon lads – it sucks more than your namesake (Ah, just had to get that one in before I start the review proper). Now, enough of this meaningless banter, on with the music. Abrasive punk rock with some ska tinges? Yes thanks, 6 please.
‘Just A Joke’ begins with the kind of galloping drum beat that’s so damn good, simply because it never fails to make whoever hears it slap their thighs in the kinda fake air-drumming way. It’s a quite rollicking track with more than a few nods to the loud and messy world of Oi, especially with the shouty vocals and chorus. It’s worth noting early on that Lewinski aren’t going to win the Dream Theater Award For Technique, but the simplicity of the songs fits so well the whole vibe of the EP. ‘Her Life Story’ is a case of some common-or-garden minor key ska riffage mixed with the pre-requisite quiet-loud formula. Nothing new, I hear you cry? Well, you’d be right. But it’s the combination of some nifty time changes with a hook big enough to hang France on, all mixed in with a catchy melody. What more could you ask for?
The next two tracks have a somewhat darker, dirtier tone. The guitars sound so utterly treble-soaked that they take on an almost evil sound in ‘Out Of My Head’, combined with a bit that is exactly lifted from the intro to ‘Nice Guys Finish Last’ by Green Day. This song gets repetitive, purely because it has zero variety until the very end, and serves to lead into the cunningly titled ‘Karma Sutra’ (see what they did there?!). I think Lewinski were aiming at a much larger sound, because the melodies seem that little bit too stadium-sized. That’s not a bad thing, but it does have the effect of making this song stand out on its own, and as such doesn’t really fit with the rest of the EP. It’s a shame, because the chorus is just a gnat’s ball away from being just epic enough to conquer civilisations.
Yummy, comedy punk cover time. This time ‘Always On My Mind’ gets the ironic treatment and to be perfectly honest , I absolutely hated it when I first heard it. Then it crawled under my skin with all the sneakiness of Ebola and took up residence. It’s fair to say that it’s grown on me and I really like it now. They haven’t done anything revolutionary with it, save adding a few chugging guitars and speeding the entire thing up to a breakneck pace. Methinks the EP should have ended here, because the final track, ‘Hangover’ is such a poor way to end a previously good quality collection of nasty, loud songs. It starts with something like the riff from the dirge from the last Reel Big Fish album and bemoans the effects of alcohol. Endlessly. Because that’s original. And I really care. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an awfully whiney ‘na na na’ chorus just kicks it when it’s down. Ouch. Unnecessary.
The verdict? An EP of two halves, Brian. On the one hand, it does contain some seriously catchy punk rock songs that sound like Cock Sparrer being played very fast while downing shots of lighter fluid (a good thing). Trouble is, a couple of poor songs really do taint the whole effort, which is a shame because it’s clear that Lewinski are a promising young band.
Ben