The split release has been a time-honoured tradition in punk for years now, and it comes as a surprise that this is only Man Overboard’s second time embracing the format since releasing the split with Transit way back in 2009.
What’s even more surprising is that for a band who has been around for the best part of fifteen years, this is actually the first time fellow New Jersey natives Senses Fail have appeared on such a release.
The pairing fits well though. On one side you have a band who essentially saved pop-punk when it was on the verge of being a stagnant genre. And on the other you have one of the hardest working bands in alternative punk, who stuck to the guns as many of their peers changed their sound or fell by the wayside.
Both bands have been friends for some time, and have shared many tours together, so for this release each band has contributed one new song and a cover of the other’s tracks. It could be considered a “VS” kind of split, which used to be common within hardcore and punk, with bands putting their own spin on a friend’s tracks, but it’s been a long time since one has been released.
Up first are Man Overboard, whose brand of pop-punk is as infectious as ever. ‘One Fixed Point’ does have a certain amount more grit than their 2013 album ‘Heart Attack’, while still maintaining the vocal hooks that we have come to love about them. For their chosen cover the band have taken on the classic Senses Fail track ‘Cute When You Scream’ from their critically acclaimed album ‘Let It Enfold You’. It’s basically a by-the-book copy of the original. That’s not a criticism, and if anything it serves as reminder of how great the original was.
The real surprise on this release is the new Senses Fail track ‘All You Need Is Already Within You’. It would have been easy to write this band off years ago, but it seems like the last fifteen years were the build up to this point in their career. Front man Buddy Nielsen became very outspoken in the press about his personal life towards the end of last year, and ‘All You Need Is Already Within You’ feels like the cathartic release he needed.
Don’t expect to hear the soaring choruses that the band have been known for, as this is a no frills hardcore punk track in a similar vein to Bane or Snapcase, and sees the band sounding more confident and engaging than ever before. They even apply a similar bite to their cover of the quintessential Man Overboard track ‘Real Talk’, that while for the most part stays the same as the original, the harsher tone of Nielsen’s vocal cut through on more than one occasion.
Sometimes these kind of releases serve little to no purpose, but for fans of these bands this is an essential listen. You have Man Overboard showing that they are still the masters of their craft, and how much they have progressed over the years to become such a well oiled machine. However, if this is indeed a “VS” split, then Senses Fail win this round, as it was such a surprise to see the band with a renewed sense of urgency about them. Whatever the result, it serves as a fantastic precursor to the future of both bands.
GLEN BUSHELL