Album Review: Burn Into The Earth by The Penske File

Recently I reviewed Up For Nothings new album Swindled and I really enjoyed it. Because of this I wanted to check out more from the band and found out that they would be touring Europe (not England though) soon with a band from Canada named The Penske File. Naturally I then decided to check out The Penske File and their latest album Burn Into The Earth, which was released in the summer of 2015. I had a new love! Normally I wouldn't review an album that was released six months ago but I have to tell as many people as I can just how good this album is!

The awesomeness of Burn Into The Earth is kicked off with a track named Damned. Starting slowly with just guitar and a bit of vocals, the party really gets going when the whole band join in and I'm instantly throwing my fists in the air with excitement. When I was excitedly telling Emma about The Penske File I described their sound of folky pop punk as similar to Fake Problems, but better. That's not even a dig at Fake Problems, I really enjoy them but The Penske File just blow them out of the water. Damned also has a massive chorus you'll be singing from the very first listen. Up next is the song Bedroom Angels. This is another slow starter but when it does you know you're in for a fantastic time. It's a mid-tempo sing-a-long with plenty of fun "whoa-oh" moments. Vocally I'm slightly reminded of Chris Cresswell from The Flatliners. It's gravelly but manages to keep a slight pop feel to it which makes for a fun but urgent sound. The harmonica really comes into play towards the end of the song, a feature of The Penske File that really makes them stand out. The third song, Wasters goes along at a nice quick pace but manages to keep the fist in the air, sing as loudly as you possibly can, punk rock feeling to it. Tone wise it feels a bit more serious than the first two songs. The use of two singers in the chorus gives the song a much more expansive sound and an excellent sense of inclusion.

Party Town Liars is a bit more on the folk side of The Penske Files’ sound. With a harmonica heavy introduction the opening verse has a great one two punch combination of guitars and vocals that really capture the attention. I love the bridge and build section of the song with the lyrics "we got too close to the flames, we only ever had ourselves to blame, we got too close to the fire, now we're just kings and queens of the party town liars". I can see that being a real crowd pleaser live. Next up is the song Put Your Dreams To Bed. This song is played at a slightly slower tempo than the previous tracks on Burn Into The Earth and is about giving up on your childhood dreams and getting stuck into the real world. I like the change in musical direction here; it's not as uplifting as what we've already heard and shows a different side to The Penske File. Dead Letters is another song with a darker sound. On this track The Penske File go down the melodic punk rock sound, showing another fantastic string on their bow. There is a bass line around the one minute mark that you really listen to as well as some fantastic gravel voiced vocals. The Penske File are on Anti-Flag's A-F Records in the United States and you can definitely hear the bands influence on this song. Red Tongue sees the band go back to their folky pop punk sound. Starting slow with some vocals and guitars before we slowly build into a full band song, it's a great build towards some more fantastically fun punk rock including a great breakdown and some huge gang vocals (I LOVE GANG VOCALS). I also love the track ordering here with the slow-starting Red Tongue following on from an aggressive track like Dead Letters.

Old Dogs is another awesomely catchy song that you'll be singing for days. On my first listen of Burn Into The Earth this is the track that really stood out above all others, which is saying something considering how much I enjoyed every song. The chorus features song wonderful gang vocals along with some whoa-oh harmonies, what more does anyone want in a punk song? It's taking me ten minutes to write about this song because I can't help but have a little dance whilst I listen to the song! The penultimate song on the album is titled Young Hearts. What I really loved about Young Hearts was the shifts in tempo throughout the track. The harmonica does a great job in driving the song forward between the hook filled vocal delivery. Speaking of the vocals, there is a nice mix of restrained and screamy vocals throughout, despite the different styles there is a massive amount of passion and energy delivered. This brings us to the final song on Burn Into The Earth - Home. This track finishes the album with a real bang. During the verses there is some fantastic drumming to accompany some more super passionate vocals. There is another excellent breakdown before some excellent harmonies. 

In case you haven't noticed I think that The Penske File's Burn Into The Earth is an absolutely amazing punk rock album. I wish I had heard it much earlier, it would have placed very, very highly on my end of year list. You need to listen to this album. It's really bloody good and excellent and stuff!

Stream and download Burn Into The Earth here: https://thepenskefileband.bandcamp.com/album/burn-into-the-earth

Like The Penske File here: https://www.facebook.com/thepenskefile