Album Review: Average Songs About The Best Days Of Our Lives by Less Deceived

Before I had even listened to a single note on Less Deceived's new EP I was smiling. The title of the EP is already the winner of best-named release of the year - Average Songs About The Best Days Of Our Lives. I really enjoyed the four –piece’s previous EP It'll Never Get Better Than This, an EP with five sing-along gruff pop punk anthems, so I was really looking forward to hearing this new one. 

The first song on the EP, which I'm going to call Average Songs for short, is I Used To Own A Crass Shirt. Straight away this is a return to the anthemic, shouty pop punk I really enjoyed on the previous EP. The song starts with a big shout-along chorus that really pulled me in immediately. The band makes me think of a cross between Red City Radio and The Copyrights as they plough through a fantastic fist in the air track. There is a fantastic break down where the band slow things down and sing "Sing Because We Know The Words, Scream Because We Know It Hurts" which I think is a fantastic lyric about why people sing along at gigs. The second song is titled My Main Weakness Is How Weak I Am. Less Deceived have a knack for writing fantastic titles as well as superb songs. More fist in the air punk rock music thatreally relies on the vocals to carry the melody of the song along. The track features the name of the EP in the lyrics and is about pushing yourself to do things so you don't have any regrets. The song finishes with some great gang vocals and I dolove a gang vocal finish. Track number three is called Obscure References For A Disinterested Audience. This song begins slightly slower than the previous two songs with just some guitar and vocals before the song really gets a shift on. There is a fantastic dual vocal moment during the chorus that I adored but the main attraction for me in the song was the drumming. It really drives the song on, with every beat hit with real intensity. I'll Burn You Some CDs is the name of the fourth and penultimate song. This song starts quite differently to the first three songs, with the guitars sounding more distorted and the vocals using a different melody, creating a very interesting effect. This song is about returning home to your safe place after being away and rekindling old relationships. As you can probably predict by now the chorus is again massive and will undoubtedly get a great reaction at a live show. The final track on Average Songs is called You've Heard This Before, Right?andreveals Less Deceived saved their biggest chorus for the end of the EP. With a stabby melody the band scream out "How Can Anyone Make Anyone Else Be Happy If They’re Not Happy Themselves". This song is about hiding your unhappiness from other people;everyone does itand it's not a very healthy process. Today I've been thinking about the best songs of the year and, for me, this is definitely one of them.

One word I would use to describe Average Songs About The Best Days Of Our Lives is "samey". That might sound negative but it’s really not meant to be. I absolutely love this EP, every song makes me want to sing along and it will only take a few listens for me to know every single word. Sometimes bands try to do too many different things on releases and it often doesn't work. If you have something that's awesome - go with it. That has worked incredibly well for Less Deceived. Now I just really need to see them live.

Stream and buy Average Songs About The Best Days Of Our Lives here: https://less-deceived.bandcamp.com/

Like Less Deceived on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/LessDeceived