Album Review: The Album by Math The Band The Band

Math The Band The Band have come from nowhere to release one of my favourite albums (The Album) of the year! This six-piece from Rhode Island New York have been around since 2001 and have toured with the likes of Andrew WK, Wheatus and MC Lars. This might not sound like the punkest thing ever but you just have to check this album out.

The opening song on The Album is called All We Are and it greets you with a synthesizer-led pop punk track. My first thought on hearing the track was "this reminds me of Bomb The Music Industry!", which was great because I loved that band. I enjoyed the sense that anything possible could happen during the song and their fantastic ability to write catchy pop tunes. Not Gonna Fight starts with a more traditional pop punk beginning, with the lead singer shouting out the opening lines accompanied by guitars. Soon enough the rest of the band join in and everything goes along as you’d think it should, until midway when a female vocal is introduced for the first time! It's very "new-wavey" but fits into the song really well. The third song is called Jake Says. Vocally this song is more restrained than the previous two songs, with the synths really taking the lead during the track, at times reminding me of something from corny old sci-fi movies. I Didn't Have Time To Think is the longest track on The Album at over five minutes long. Sometimes when a song is longer it feels like it drags, happily this one doesn't. There are so many different elements packed into the song; male and female vocals, a catchy chorus, keys, synths, crunching guitars, thumping guitars, loads! The song really shows off what a talented bunch Math The Band The Band are.

Tour de Friends starts out rather oddly with someone gurgling before launching into a blisteringly fast pop punk ditty. The vocals on the song remind me of Nick Woods of Direct Hit! in the way that they are delivered; fast, intense and with plenty of venom. The sixth song BFFU is ridiculously fun. It's one of the rowdiest songs I've heard in a long time with everything played as fast as possible. The vocals come from every conceivable direction and it just makes me want to dance as fast as possible. This is definitely a song that I really need to see play live as I imagine it would get a great reaction. Things are reined in on Why Didn't You Get A Haircut? The song is about making more of an effort to get to where you want to go in life. As someone who very often looks homeless this is something I can really relate to. I really loved the female harmonies throughout the track, making a fairly serious song much more fun. The penultimate song Take It Back ramps the tempo back up but also shows a lot less of the musical anarchy that was displayed throughout The Album. It's another synth-led song that really makes me want to dance. The vocals in the verse are very punchy and move at an impressive tempo and I like that it feels like there is a chorus but there are no actual words, just a fun tune to dance to. The Album finishes off with a track titled Four To Six. This song is another one that starts off slightly restrained, with even the dual vocals being toned down. The whole song is impossible not to try and sing along with as it has some catchy lyrics. It feels like the song is building towards a huge ending but it doesn't, it just stops and so does The Album. I actually really like that it does that, the whole album does what you don't really expect so it feels like a fitting way to finish.

Stream and buy The Album here: https://maththeband.bandcamp.com/album/math-the-band-the-band-the-album

Like Math The Band here: https://www.facebook.com/maththeband