I love discovering some bands like Back Pedal. These guys are hailing from Missouri and this is their new release containing seven songs. The music of Back Pedal is superb, mix of styles that I love in pop punk and melodic punk rock. That means it’s as if I listen to Descendents mixed with Teenage Bottlerocket or The Lillingtons. This is energetic fast and ultra melodic punk rock with short but sweet songs, not unlike above mentioned bands. Vocals are great, melodic and not snotty, but I would love if they could be a bit more louder in the next recordings of this excellent band. Guitars are raw and remind of early Ramones guitar work, the drummer is singer for this band, so that is another plus for me. I would like to see this band deliver their music live, I am sure they are energetic and fun as Hell to check out live. My personal favorites on this record are: ‘T.H.P.S.’, ‘Little Psycho’ and ‘Adore’. Great one, I look forward to more stuff from Back Pedal.
The Streetplants are from Brunswick, Germany and this release contains five songs. This one is a crossbreed between Deutschpunk or German pop punk mixed with some grungy feel in some songs, but also melodic punk/skate punk thrown in for good measure. This is pretty raw recording being a demo of maybe even rehearsal studio recording. But, this is DIY and who cares about recording if the music is alright and this is more than alright. Lyrics are in German, this is such good language for punk rock and as I learned it in school decades ago and speak German, there are more personal themes and the music reminds me a lot of old Yugoslav punk band KBO!, their slower songs, because here prevails more mid tempo to some up tempo punk rock, this is not your ultra fast melodic hardcore punk if you thought about that, but this one has great guitar melody main lines, good vocals who could be a little more energetic in some songs and in all, has that punk energy that we all love so much. I am looking forward to future releases from this band.
The Lancasters are hailing from mighty Italian underground scene and this is their new full length opus with Retro Vox Records. This one contains thirteen songs and is it a concept album? Well, yes and no! Songs are arranged like a presentation of wild and strange family with thirteen members from more normal, depending on the eye of the beholder to more weird and eerie members. So, it is basically a concept album, but also it’s not. Music is basically heavy rock with some prog elements, garage punk even in some songs, desert rock and not toname all those subgenres right now, I will say, it is only rock n roll but I like it! Some songs sound to me like The Hellacopters with Black Sabbath in same blender with garage rock. I like more melodic songs like for example ‘Little Suzie’ which I listened two or three times over and over. There are tempo changes and songs vary from mid tempo to more faster, straightforward stuff, but the energy is touchable throughout the whole album. I also love song called ‘Pancho, the Brave’ which was cleverly chosen as a single. Vocals have that effect on it, so I would like more if there were more clean, but hey that is only me, for this type of music they fit perfectly. Between others, I also choose ‘Liza’ and ‘Odessa’ as my personal favorite family members. Go listen if you like your rock.
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