Big in Japan, that is this band from the USA for sure, here in Europe, however, the band is a lot less popular. With about one new album every two years, this is their 11th release in almost 20 years of existence.
Compared with their 2013 album “Call Your Friends”, the music didn’t change a lot. The songs are still a mix of pop, punk and reggae/ska/funk influences. Most of the songs have the same build up, starting with a verse, then a chorus, a verse, a chorus, a solo etc. All of the refrains are easy to sing along with and all songs are rather radio friendly. Besides the normal vocal parts by Matty Lewis, also rapper Ali Tabatabaee contributes quite a lot, too.
I like the heavier and faster songs most, like for instance the opening track, which has a rather heavy riff for a Zebrahead song and also the fast track “Save Your Breath” sees to it that it is not going to sound too mellow and too cheesy. “Wasted Generation” is another rather heavy song in which the band is more punk-rock than pop-rock, also it contains a nice melodic guitar solo. “Battle Hymn” is a song filled with funky reggae/ska guitars and rhytmns, but after that a real punk song follows. That track is together with the first song one of my favorites. The style of the band is not one I’m living in, like thrash, but every now and then I can appreciate this type of music.
Again a nice effort from this band, but there are too little changes and surprises to really outshine other releases.
Tracklist:
01. Who Brings A Knife To A Gun Fight?
02. Worse Than This
03. Headrush
04. Keep It To Myself
05. Running With Wolves
06. So What
07. Save Your Breath
08. Walk the Plank
09. Under the Deep Blue Sea
10. Wasted Generation
11. Battle Hymn
12. King Of the Here And Now
13. Freak Show
Playing time: 38:00
Release date: 16 October, 2015
Label: Rude Records
Website: www.facebook.com/zebrahead
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