7YearsBadLuck are a three piece punk rock band from Innsbruck,
Austria comprised of Tom (vocals and drums), Giorgio (guitar and vocals) and
Andi (vocals and bass). At the beginning of November 2014 they put out a brand
new album named Bridges on Monster Zero Records and Disconnect Disconnect
Records. This is my review of it.
Bridges begins with a song named We’re Not Getting Any. I’m
sure the pervert in you, just like the pervert in me (that’s not an innuendo)
would instantly assume that this song is sex related. This certainly is not the
case. We’re Not Getting Any is a great opening song about not aging and not
caring about it. The thumping drumbeat at the beginning really gives an sense
of anticipation for whats about to happen and a fantastic way to begin the
album. This is followed up in a similar fashion on the next song, All I Know.
This is a nice love song about through all of life’s uncertainties one thing is
for certain, he wants his girl around. It makes sense, life is always better,
even when it is at its worst when you have someone you really care about with
you. That special person who always makes you smile. Musically the song is
played at a mid-paced tempo where other than a nice break down towards the end
of the song the lyrics carry the melody brilliantly. Time Is A Thief opens with
a really ear-catching bass line from Andi. The pace is picked up in this song
that has a familiarity of early blink-182 to it. Time Is A Thief is about
struggling to maintain a relationship over time. The lyrics are delivered in a
punchy manor and give the song a great feeling of urgency. The fourth song is
called Beggars And Kings. This song has a nice intro section that really builds
towards a great summertime pop punk anthem. The message in the chorus is
fantastically positive, telling you that no matter what kind of background you
come from if your unhappy with the way life is going, it’s okay to remove that
bad stuff from your life and start again.
The title track Bridges is about those horrible times when
bridges are burnt by friends. The music in this song feels very sombre and
downbeat. Lyrics such as “And It Felt A Lot Like Dying In A Movie, I Had Kept
My Heart From Beating For A Day” give a big sense of loss. Falling Apart is a
slower paced song about posers in their music scene. This pop punk song reminds
me a lot of Mixtapes Hope Is For People. It’s good insanely catchy and will
have you singing along with the band in no time at all. The pop punk continues
with I’m Not Going To Sleep Tonight. This is a treat for fans of Ramones-core
pop punk bands like Screeching Weasel or The Apers. It’s brilliantly simple
like all of the best pop punk songs. The song itself is about struggling to
sleep, worrying about some news. The lyrics “I’ll Just Have To Wait Forever And
A Day, Not Knowing Is The Hardest Part, And I’m Not Gonna Sleep Tonight Again”
really hit the nail on the head. The halfway point of Bridges is reached with the
song Waiting. At only 59 seconds long it’s the shortest on the album and feels
more like a bit of an interlude than a proper song.
Live Today kicks the second half of the album off in some
style. This is more perfect summertime pop punk complete with Ben Weasel-esque
snotty vocals. I really enjoyed the positivity in this song about living for
the moment. The lyrics towards the end of the song talk about not doing the
things you love because you’re too concerned about your “grown up”
responsibilities and if you do that you’re missing out on living your life the
best way you can. The Only One For Me is another fun song about girls. More
summertime pop punk The Queers would be super proud of with some really sweet
lyrics. I love the lyrics “Still You Got The Looks, The Smile, You Laugh At My
Stupid Jokes.” Lyrics I really relate to. The summertime fun is gone on the
following song I Don’t Like Cats and is replaces with some fast and furious
skate punk. The subject material isn’t particularly serious but will get a
great reaction played live, expect some great mosh pits to break out during
this song. 100 Different Places sees 7YearsBadLuck venture into a more mature
melodic punk sound. This song feels more reigned in than others on the album
giving the band a good platform to put the message of the song across.
Birthdays is one of the stand out songs on Bridges for me. I
loved how it switches from the controlled verses to the upbeat breeziness of
the choruses. The song is about remembering all of the best times of your youth
and realising how much has changed as you have gotten older. The intro for Far
Away is fantastic, with the bass line really standing out. The song is about
falling out of touch with friends and even when you want to speak to them it’s
hard to pick up the phone. The second verse is especially relatable – “I Really
have No Explanation, You Know To Well That It’s Way Easier To Run, The Party’s
Over, Words Have Lost Their Meaning, And After All We Had A Good Run You And
I.” Everybody has a friend who doesn’t live especially close and it is hard to
remain a close relationship because of that. The penultimate song on Bridges is
called Out Of Focus. This song never really picks up any momentum for me, it
felt like it was building towards something huge but sadly it never really
materialised. The album finishes with I Still Know, a song that makes sure the
Bridges ends on a high. This song tells a story about maturing, and it actually
being cool. I’ve always gone along with the life mantra that “growing up is for
quitters.” This song sets a new light on that theory, it says that you can do
all the mature grown up things, like hoovering, having nice clean clothes and
not sleeping in past nine and still do all of the adolescent stuff that you
love. It sounds like it’s actually okay to grow old. Who knew?
My first thoughts when I saw that Bridges contained sixteen
songs I worried that it a lot of the songs would feel like filler, it’s so rare
for a band to put out an album with so many songs on these days. This happily
wasn’t the case on this album, noly one song out of the sixteen I would say was
close to feeling like filler and that was a fine song, surrounded by excellent
ones. 7YearsBadLuck have put out a fantastic varied album of punk rock. Highly
recommended.
Stream and buy Bridges here: https://7yearsbadluck.bandcamp.com/album/bridges-lp-cd-2014
Buy a physical copy of Bridges here: http://disconnectdisconnectrecords.bigcartel.com/
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