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Lighten Up

Absolutely Not

Written by: PP on 08/04/2010 22:28:54

Lighten Up have been listening to quite a bit of Paint It Black before writing their debut album "Absolutely Not". Hailing from Philadelphia, the band delivers 12 tracks worth of fist-pumping, pedal-to-the-floor melodic hardcore punk in just 17 minutes, and they sound pretty much exactly like Paint It Black, except maybe somewhat faster and more melodic, and you can't deny the Minor Threat, Kid Dynamite and (old) Descendents influence either. The lyrical themes mostly revolve around having a good time and making fun of the seriousness of the hardcore scene, much in the vein of Good Clean Fun or International Superheroes Of Hardcore, although maybe not as over-the-top as especially the latter one of those two bands.

Like those name drops? You could probably skip the rest of the review then, but just to state the obvious, the urgency and intensity levels present on the record are sky-high. But what makes "Absolutely Not" work so well is that even though the average song length dwells somewhere around the 1 minute mark, there are plenty of catchy passages and even shout-a-longs for good measure. "Boyz II Wolves" even fits a woo-hoo chorus within its 15 second overall length. Most of the credit can be shoved in the direction of vocalist Perry Shall, who sounds like a slightly angrier version of the posi-hardcore champion Mr Issa from Good Clean Fun. But despite his pissed-off yell, he fits a great deal of melody into his delivery, which is why a song like "Life On Earth" sounds so good instead of the monotone monster it almost certainly would've been with a full-blown screamer behind the mic instead. Not much more can be said about a record that's only 17 minutes long, so lets end the review on the note that if you like hardcore, and you like it melodic instead of monotone, plus you don't mind a d-beat and breakneck speed pace, Lighten Up should be pretty high up on your list of bands to check out.

Download: Dolphins Are Sharks With A Good Publicist, Absolutely Not
For the fans of: Paint It Black, Kid Dynamite, Good Clean Fun, Minor Threat
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.01.2010
Jump Start Records