Public Opinion Painted on Smile LP
Sometimes a debut just comes out self-assured and shit-hot, an introduction to a band that knows what it wants to do and does it with aplomb. That’s what we’ve got on our hands with this group who blends a lot of styles together to great effect. We’ve got hard-driving, blue collar punk rock making nice with emo and pop punk that never loses its edge. These are musicians that have played together in other projects which makes sense—it sounds like a group of players who speak each other’s language, and it lends a lived-in depth to the overall sound. This album is doing its own thing, but it does sit alongside contemporaries like MILITARIE GUN who also don’t balk at bringing hardcore energy to dense melodicism. Each song is super-charged and filled to the brim with hooks, just like I like it. The playing is tight and the vocal performances veer from tender to anthemic throat-shredding, often in the same song. All in, this is a real treat and a confident-as-hell debut.