If Forrest Gump said life was like a box of chocolates because you didn’t know what you were gonna get, Pennywise would be the chocolate equivalent of a slab of Dairy Milk – each bit is the same, smooth and tasty I might add, but there’s less variety between each slice. In other words, with each Pennywise record you know exactly what you’re going to get – it’s quality material but each record sounds a bit the same.
‘From The Ashes’ is exactly what you’d expect a Pennywise album to sound like. It’s fast and furious skate-punk with the odd duffer sitting between the odd classic. Thing is, they’ve been doing exactly the same for 10 years and this record offers nothing new or different. It’s bound to excite the diehards but the casual fan or those new to the band probably aren’t best served in checking this out. They’ve certainly done better, let’s put it that way.
As usual there are the standout tracks that would grace any Pennywise greatest hits cd. ‘Waiting’ and opener ‘Now I Know’ are speed punk tracks that rip you apart with their ferociousness. They also showcase the band’s many talents – Jim Lindberg is a great frontman and songwriter while drummer Byron McMackin is one of the best in the business. He hits hard, he hits harder – it’s like a battering ram and boy does it suit. ‘Look Who You Are’ isn’t quite as fast, almost the obligatory PW slower song yet it still works well.
‘Thus Is Only A Test’ sounds like a NOFX song covered by Pennywise, while ‘Punch Drunk’ is slightly Pennywise-by-numbers. But to be honest there aren’t many letdowns. Despite my rantings the songs that make up this release are good, but I can’t escape the fact that they’ve done it better before. ‘Rise Up’ is much better though, Fletcher‘s guitar work gets taken up a notch and Byron’s drumming goes with him. I can see this as a live favourite. Then there’s the usual curveball with ‘Yesterdays’, having a go at being ‘From The Ashes” attempt at recreating ‘Alien’ but not coming off quite as well.
The lyrical matter also touches on September 11 as well as the usual socio-political subjects the band are particularly keen to voice. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, except eight albums on the lyrical slant doesn’t differ that much from when they started out. Maybe this isn’t a problem for some people but for me it’s ‘heard it all before’ stuff, even if the songs are still good. I’m not making much sense.
‘From The Ashes’ isn’t a bad album, save its unoriginality. But then that’s Pennywise all over really, you know what you’re going to get and they do it all very well. Just they’ve done it all better before – and you know it…
Paul
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