Sonoma County is a place where nineties melodic punk rock existed and thrived with bands such as Tsunami Bomb or Bracket falling to mind immediately. North Bay in California has new and superb melodic punk bands and One Armed Joey is one of those. This trio has been around since 2014 and this is their first full length album after releasing couple of e.p.-s. This one contains ten songs of absolutely beautiful melodic punk rock with some pop punk influences and it is so sweet to listen to. Vocals are such honey and cinnamon sprinkled melodies and backing vocal harmonies deliver such overlayer of beauty to the main melodies. Guitar work is awesome, songwriting is totally great and this album or music does not get boring or repetitive for one second. Lyrics are another story, so carefully and well written and handle with today´s anxieties that any of us have and hold, and teach us to somehow try to turn those anxieties to happiness and cope with that in everyday rush and all day running and trying to catch something. The album as a whole is at the same time melancholic but also full of hope and not giving up. Besides playing pop punk, there are also a bit of reggae influence like in part of one of my personal favorites Mirrors. Also, songs I mention as my highlights are Rot and Lost Dog pt 1 and 2. This is a great album.

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