I’m not going to waste your time with preamble or build up. This album is incredible and I love it. If you don’t like reading then, other than asking you why you’d click on a blog link in the first place, I say accept my love and go buy Protection right now.
For those who might need just a bit more persuasion to add this to the top of your album of the year lists I’ll continue. Face To Face have done a nigh on perfect job here in recreating everything that fans have always loved about them and turned up the dial another quarter notch. Ironically for an album with a song specifically about sitting in the middle of the road musically (Middling Around) I find this the most accessible of all of their offerings. I don’t say that as a bad thing, instead I find that they’ve crafted something so fine that I can’t imagine your genre preferences would stop you from listening to and enjoying this record.
Face To Face keep their same self-effacing-yet-socially-conscious style, which in manly respects parallels fellow Fat Wreck Alums No Use For A Name. If you haven’t ever heard Face To Face before but are in love with NUFAN offerings such as Hard Rock Bottom and The Feel Good Record Of The Year then you can feel assured you’ll be in safe hands here. This is something that has all the hallmarks of a classic hallmarks of a Fat Wreck album; the super charged riffs, the blisteringly fast pace, but with a shine and polish that sets it above all but the greatest of its peers.
Song wise, opener Bent But Not Broken is your new favourite punk tune in the world, a technical marvel with instantly lovable melodies and a pro activism message that should click with anyone with left leanings. You also have woahs in the chorus to round off what I’d consider a damn near perfect skate punk tune.
It’s nothing like downhill from there though, with even slower tunes such as Say What You Want being powerful and bringing about goosebumps. Being compelled to listen the entire way through an album is a great sign of an exceptional one in my opinion and this is certainly the case here, another special shoutout going to ending tune And So It Goes, which is as full of power and as fun to listen to as the opening song. There’s no filler here, just great tunes that will have you keeping this on repeat.
I realise I started with my conclusion but it’s fine, I can do it again since I can’t gush about this record enough. This is the best thing Face To Face have ever produced, not only that but it’s at least as good if not better than anything anyone has done in recent memory. Your life will be a better place with this album in it. Stop reading now and go listen.
Stream and download Protection here: https://facetofaceband.bandcamp.com/
Like Face To Face here: https://www.facebook.com/facetoface
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