On their first new full-length with original singer Jim Lindberg in a decade, Pennywise has reemerged as a punk band you don’t wanna mess with. From the very first track, the band has ramped up the speed and velocity in which punk has been heard; they have also reactivated it for those who haven’t had a whole lot of goodness to find in today’s current crop of punk.
As with pretty much every Pennywise disc, the musicianship is excellent. It’s on par with other great punk bands that have been around for over 30 years. “Live While You Can” is a slower song with some great vocals from Lindberg, not to mention some excellent attitude. “She Said” fits in with the current women’s movement and it works so well. It’s just great, straight ahead punk without any of the modern day production techniques that mars a lot of today’s music.
Even the album’s slower tracks, such as “Can’t Be Ignored,” work and get the blood flowing. That’s the power of great punk. No matter how long the band’s been around, if they’ve still got it, fans will recognize it immediately. That’s what Pennywise has been able to do here and God bless ‘em for it.
This band has always been one of the more optimistic and upbeat around, never going into the depths of depression, never letting the evil of the world get them down and break them. “A Little Hope” is the best example of this. It’s a song that gives every listener a bit of hope and brightens the day just a bit more.
All in all, this is a band that has really only gotten better through the years and doesn’t seem to have aged a day. That’s phenomenal in this current punk environment where everyone seems so hellbent on reliving their past and not creating anything new. This band still sounds as great as they did in their ‘90s heyday. The world is so much better for having a band like Pennywise around and still making great music.