New school pop punk done good.
I’m not too sure when I first came across The Over Everythings but it’s a happy mystery I’m glad occurred. As far as I can tell, I stumbled across them as a fledgling pre gigging band back in 2015 and decided I’d keep my beady eye on them.
Almost exactly two years later, I sit with No Solidarity in my lap and it seems like the guys have been busy perfecting their craft. The debut album of these Hertfordshire pop punkers is a polished and fine tuned thing and adds to the fact that the last few months have been a landslide of incredible punk rock.
No Solidarity opens to the decidedly heavy and blisteringly fast Union. Everything that sets off my great band radar is present from the get go. Heavy riffs, double time drumming and gorgeous vocal harmonies all wrapped around a frenetic but coherent song structure.
The Over Everythings strike me as a band that would fit so perfectly on a late 90s punk bill. I could see them fitting right into a gig with Captain Everything, 4ft Fingers and Caffiene. It’s that brand of tongue in cheek fast skate/pop punk that was pretty prevalent back in the day and it’s seeing a resurgence amongst bands like On A Hiding To Nothing and Captain Trips too. There are touches of heavy riffage in places but nothing so involved as the Melodic Hardcore crew and although the vocals are perfectly coiffed and the harmonies are crisp and tight they aren’t too overboard or overproduced like the new school pop punkers.
Instead The Over Everythings have carved themselves out a niche as something original in style and flavour whilst also remaining accessible to a huge range of tastes, a job many try and fail at.
Stand out tracks on the album were Medicate And Move On which is an instantly catchy tune and sounds like single material, Shrapnel which is fast yet melodic and has an incredible Fat Wreck feel and Blue Nightmare which is my personal favourite for being as close as you could ask to an MxPx song.
All in all No Solidarity shows a band that were good to start with who have perfected and honed what they do into the best possible package for us all to consume. You may have noticed I have deliberately name dropped several bands and styles into this review. If any single one of these strikes a chord with you then I am 100% certain there is something for you here for you to love.
Stream and download No Solidarity here: https://scyllarecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-solidarity
Like The Over Everythings here: https://www.facebook.com/theovereverythings/
This review was written by Dan Peters.
No comments:
Post a Comment