(review) Unwritten Law – The Hum

Southern California punks Unwritten Law are back with their new full length, first original material in over a decade. I always liked this band and how they mixed pop punk sensibility with punk rock riffs and great lyrics topped with awesome vocals and melodies. This album is no different. These songs are not so fast and maybe not your skate punk mayhem, but this is pop punk par excellence for 21st century. If I must compare this album to some bands it would be a mixture of Billy Talent and AFI with some darker atmosphere in some songs. Vocals are still fantastic, melodies too and many choruses leave you humming along and singing along to all woooas and oooohs, also bringing smile to your face after a long day. Besides pop punk and punk rock riffs, guitars on some occasion delve into post punk riffs like in parts of Magnetic. My personal favorite is Ghosted, having such fine chorus that I listened over and over again. The album is divided into four chapters like being a concept album with Luna intermezzos. Two of the songs I must also mention are LIghthead and Murder Days, probably the most punk rock songs straightforward and up tempo with kind of darker atmosphere. In all, great comeback, good album.