Rockfreaks.net

Pulley

Time-Insensitive Material

Written by: PP on 10/04/2009 13:47:09

Just like The Riverboat Gamblers in the other review, Pulley is another highly respected punk rock band who have gained cult-status and more or less universal acclaim from the entire scene. They're also another band that I know fuck all about other than the hype I've read through my research, but part of that can be attributed to the fact that they haven't released anything in over five years. Yeah I know, It should be criminal that as the punk correspondent of Rockfreaks.net, I know so little of the past greats, but hey, I'm working on it. Anyway, "Time-Insensitive Material" EP is my first Pulley record, so I won't even try comparing it to their five full length albums, and instead will focus on just how these guys sound like.

So how do they sound like? The short answer is to call them the metaphorical hot knife through butter for melodicore / melodic punk rock fans. The longer answer is to call them an intriguing mix of the nostalgic joyous melancholy (paradox, I know) heard in Alkaline Trio's early material, the tight skatepunk of No Fun At All, and the hard-edged melodicore of No Use For A Name. It's as if Pulley takes the darker side of Alkaline Trio and dresses it up into a melodicore format. "Enemies" really says it all, starting off with tight skatepunk and some pretty harsh yelling, and leading into a stupendous chorus that you can't help but sing/hum along to. The chorus alone is enough to convince me of the reason why these guys have received so much praise in the past. And as is the case with all punk rock releases, the bass is nice and audible in the mix, spitting out some sweet licks, best seen on "Mandarin" though prevalent in all songs.

Since there are just five songs on the EP, I'll contain the review into a shorter format as well. If you like singing along while dancing to melodic punk rock, then getting the new Pulley EP is a no-brainer. It's an outtake of late 90s / early 2000s melodic punk rock scene from a band that long time ago realized and understood the "why fix what ain't broken" idea. If you're at all like me, and aren't really familiar with the band, "Time-Insensitive Material" works as the perfect excuse to start digging a bit deeper into one of the more influential bands in the punk rock scene.

Download: Enemies
For the fans of: Alkaline Trio, No Fun At All, Strung Out, Pennywise, No Use For A Name

Release date 24.03.2009
UNSIGNED BAND