Title: Lines And Passages
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Released: 7th July 2015
Reviewed By: Tom Penn
Occasionally, listening to a new band for a review can be a profound, life-changing, thought-provoking, "where have you been all my life" moment. Other times it can be a horrible, painful, excruciating process that makes you question everything about modern music. Sometimes though, you get to listen to something that is just really, really, really, FUN. On this EP, San Diego natives Castoff have definitely provided a whole lot of the latter.
Six songs and just over fifteen minutes of classic California skate-punk, Lines and Passages is an absolute banger. Every track is packed full of energy, vocal hooks, harmonies and some lovely guitar parts. Yes, this isn't the most original sounding thing I've ever heard, but then that's really not the point. If someone hands you a CD and says "yeah, they sound like Bad Religion and Pennywise" in which universe would that ever be a bad thing?
The songs are all distinctive, with the band avoiding what is often the biggest problem with many punk releases: repetition. There is a wonderful classic 80s metal vibe to a lot of the guitar parts which is always a winner in my book. The backing vocal harmonies are nicely judged, even if there is the odd hint of 'studio magic' in there. In general the production is nicely balanced: the rough edges have been taken off, without the result being too glossy. It's still a punk EP and, most importantly, still sounds like a band playing in a room together.
As I said back at the beginning, this EP is just fun. The fifth track, Epilogue, had me walking round the fruit and veg section in Tesco, desperately trying to stop myself from screaming "woooooooooooaaaaaaaahhhh-oooooooohhhhh" during the choruses. Something, I might add, I wasn't entirely successful at.
It's a great listen all the way through, and if you have any love for fast, riffy, catchy skate-punk then quite frankly you'd be an idiot not to give this a listen.
No comments:
Post a Comment