Ah pop-punk, the forgotten love of so many broken hearted emo kids. The likes of Blink, Sum41 and Mest owe a lot in their own different ways, and Californias ‘Never Heard of It‘ realise that by mixing melody laden pop bites of punk into eleven tracks which more often than not, capture your imagination and take you back to those good old days of harmless poppy fun. It isn’t quite enough to save it from becoming a little grating after repeat listens, but challenging anyone not to sing a long to certain tracks is a challenge I lay down to thee. Oh, and there is the added value of one of the funniest secret tracks I have ever heard.
The five piece lay down their gauntlet immediately with the upbeat yet slightly uninspiring ‘Lets go all the way’. It jumps down your throat instantly, but it’s follow up track ‘Hard Headed’ that really sets the bands stall out as a mind numbingly infectious chorus worms its way inside you and brings about the spasms of sing-a-long fun I mentioned earlier. This is continued with the upbeat ‘Situations’, but unfortunately, it isn’t all bouncy verses and sickly sweet choruses. While the summer numbers flow nicely, the band hit a major pothole when trying to overcome the pop-punk ballad. ‘Its not Possible’ starts the trend in a rather shoddy manner, while ‘Walkin Alone’ continues it and does the band no favours as it falls by the way side in similar fashion. For the moment, ‘NHOI’ should stick to their bouncy numbers.
Thankfully, for the sake of the LP they are the only real blips of the eleven tracks. While they are extremely low on originality, they make up for it in sheer determination conveyed through their music. ‘This is Goodbye’ is a track I would recommend to anyone and is arguably the bands best effort with sparkling harmonies and pace changes standing out. ‘Shes a Dick’ is similar in stature, if a little less jump out your seat fantastic and ‘I’ll change for Now’ is without doubt a track which will appeal to the Simple Plan and Good Charlotte lovers out there, and I’m positive that with one listen, they would lap this band up in an instance as it is choc-full of easy going riffs and that classic sing-a-long section at the end which appeals to all pop fans out their. Possible single…? I think so. The remainder of the album passes by with little standing out, as final track ‘Satisfied’ proves a particular disappointment.
NHOI don’t aspire to be anything more than power pop punk, but they achieve this with minimum of fuss and pull it off fairly well. For lovers of the genre, you may want to look into this as you will probably love it, it’s a cracking little album, and with summer just around the corner, it is begging to be played at that BBQ in the heat of July. Otherwise, most others will unsurpisingly hate it as the constant polished harmonies and vocals can become a bit much, but if this kind of music floats your boat, then don’t hesitate to check it out.
Jay
www.neverheardofit.com