Album Review: Anti-Charisma Wholesale by Don Blake

I always smile when I see that Bolton’s Don Blake are releasing new material. The pop punk foursome are prolific songwriters and always seem to be releasing something new every couple of years. Their most recent release is a six track EP named Anti-Charisma Wholesale and it is released by Brassneck Records and Bloated Kat Records.
Anti-Charisma Wholesale begins with The Future Is A Closed Door. The track starts off in a startling manner with a rapid drum roll and some crunching guitars that almost have you thinking you’re listening to a metal record. When Joe’s distinctive vocals come in we settle back into the familiar Don Blake sound. Joe’s soaring vocals, along with some of the best harmonies in the scene, are as good as ever and the extra crunch in the guitar adds a slight skate punk element into the song. A Comfortable Lie is the title of the second song. In contrast to the opening song, A Comfortable Lie starts quite quietly before building towards the opening verse. This is a more traditional pop punk song. The verse is full of melody that hooks you in quickly and when they switch to a more punchy style for the chorus you can’t help but want to sing along. The chorus has this thing about it that has you wanting to listen intently and sing every word. Up next is Penitent One. I had to look up what penitent actually means whilst reviewing the song – it’s “feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong.” From that I guess you can work out what the song is about – admitting you’ve done wrong and trying to make amends. The song goes by at a frantic pace, with Nige’s drums really driving the song forward.

The second half of the EP begins with Almost Got ’Em. This is more of a mid-tempo pop punk song similar to what we found on their excellent 2015 album Pocket Universe. Something I really enjoyed was the brilliant bass line from Sam that’s evident throughout the track. It adds a subtle backbone to the song that the rest of the band can play off. The penultimate song is named Haze Again. This is one of the more emotional songs on Anti-Charisma Wholesale. The song has a definite No Use For A Name vibe to it that I loved. Musically the song is quite frantic and full of energy. Joe’s vocals, along with some delicious harmonies from the rest of the band, add all of the melody and emotion to the song. This feels a bit different for Don Blake and I really like it. The final track is titled Polaroid and begins with an epic introduction. I’ve said many times that I really enjoy it when a final track feels like a final track and that’s exactly the case here. Everything feels likes it’s been turned up a notch and this gives the song a massive feeling. There are guitar and bass solos aplenty and the drums are as powerful as ever. The ending of the song is quite sudden and not really expected. This really left me wanting more, so I listened to the EP again… and again.

Don Blake are a mainstay of the UK’s pop punk scene and it’s great to see them continuing to release great music. I was really looking forward to seeing them again at MPF in April (obviously we all know what that happened there), so hopefully when things get back to normal it won’t be too long until I can see them live again as these songs sound perfect for a gig setting.

Stream and download Anti-Charisma Wholesale on Bandcamp here.

Like Don Blake on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.