Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 5.0
Production: 5.0
Originality: 4.5
Tracklisting
2. So Jersey
3. Sounds Of The City
4. The Pizza Song
5. Sarah Saturday
6. Better Things
7. The Messenger
8. Lean On Sheena
9. Letter From Iraq
10. The New Thing
11. Midnight Mile
12. For All The Unheard
The latest Bouncing Souls disc, “The Gold Record” released through Epitaph records, is not a career defining album for this veteran punk group from Jersey. (File that under “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”) Rather, it is a mature and somewhat expanded punk sound that some might already be familiar with in past Bouncing Souls releases. While there is nothing that is starkly different (expect the same catchy punk anthems with a hint of venom) the guys seem to have found their place in the punk scene today and are making the best of it.
I will admit, when I first put this record in, I thought I would hate it. I grew out of the punk phase of my life years ago and little to nothing has made me want to go back, including the first three tracks of this effort. “The Gold Song,” “So Jersey” and “The Sounds of the City” are typical Bouncing Souls songs complete with driving guitars, punkish vocals and the trademark “Whoa”s throughout. And while they are catchy, they fail to really pique my interest.
However, the fourth track, “The Pizza Song,” finally gives me something fresh. An acoustic driven song that leans heavily on Greg Antonito’s vocals and a wide array of other impractical instruments such as accordion and a horn section, “The Pizza Song” gives a more introspective look into the Soul’s writing techniques and the state of their group. It might not sound like something that is truly ground breaking but this, along with a few other musical baby steps taken by the band that really made this album listenable. Another one of these baby steps is heard in the track titled, “The Messenger.” A song that seems to be more of an arena rock anthem then a punk rock song, “The Messenger” gives way to the a much more clean guitar distortion as opposed to the full out crunchy one that is heard throughout most of the rest of the album. This is one of the more solid tracks on the record, musically speaking. However, also like with the rest of the record, the lyrics leave something to be desired.
The lyrics come off as more predictable than anything else and that has stereotypically been the case when it comes to much of this style of punk music. While this effort has a couple predictable songs, the others seem to be about topics that are not typical for a punk band. Sure, there is the Anti-war song (“Letter From Iraq”) and there is the song about home (“So Jersey”). But a track like “The Gold Song,” which highlights the fact each one of us has good in our souls and to let it come through is nothing that the Soul’s contemporaries would write about. I mean, you don’t hear Fat Mike telling us to love our neighbors (unless they are democrats). While the words themselves aren’t exactly the most amazing ones ever written, it is commendable that the guys took some chances here and, for the most part, it paid off.
If you have not heard of the Bouncing Souls or are looking to get into them, this might not be the one to pick up first. If you are already a Bouncing Souls fan, no doubt you have this record already and love it. Heck, I even pulled out my old copy of “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” and blared “True Believers.” It felt like I was 17 again and, I mean, isn’t that the point of music?