Lighten Up – “Absolutely Not”

Album Reviews | Nov 27th, 2010

Record Label: Jump Start Records
Genre: Hardcore
Band Link: www.jumpstartrecords.com
Buy on Amazon.com

* COOZER’S PICK *

Excellent old-school, punk-fueled hardcore. Not wanting to beat around the bush, they zip through 12 songs in 17 minutes. Yet they’re not as breakneck as you would think –the vocal lines and drums move at an 80s street punk speed (choruses with gang vocals sound particularly good), and the guitar chords are relatively midtempo.

Best of all, these snippets of songs manage to be distinct from each other. Short and fast doesn’t have to mean lazy, and the guitarwork here avoids the hardcore pitfall of repetitive chugalug riffs.

I love this style of hardcore – short blasts of energy and emotion, no padding or posturing or bullshit. No pointless screeching, screamo, or heavier-than-thou metalcore either – just blistering and straightforward punk. Lighten Up reminds me of 7 Seconds, which is of course a great thing.

Bottom Line: Fun hardcore album that’s over before you can boil a pot of water.
Notable Tracks: Completely solid album.
Overall Rating:

Topics:

, , ,