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Junior Battles

Junior Battles EP

Written by: PP on 17/08/2010 13:57:13

Junior Battles have been gathering critical and fan acclaim across the web for a while now, having released an extremely successful EP called "Hotel Bibles" last year, that caught the attention of, among others, The Flatliners frontman Chris Creswell. They're still a young band in the making, but yet their newest, self-titled EP is receiving four star ratings nearly everywhere I've looked. Much of this can be accredited to their no-frills, uncompromising take on melodic pop punk. The four tracks are all big on hooks and catchy vocal harmonies, but not in the polished, commercial way of a band like Fall Out Boy or Yellowcard, but in the energetic, up-beat, happy-go-lucky melody-oriented approach you might've heard on the previous The Loved Ones EP, for instance.

It's all about the melody explosion of the joyous kind, but where the guitars are still buzzing with melody and just enough grit to keep this outfit's feet on the ground. There are places where the vocal melodies and the happy instrumentals bring to mind older Bouncing Souls, but in all fairness, the connection is only a result of the similar light hearted vibe emitted by the latter band in live shows as a result of those white suits they so often wear.

So if you like your pop punk like you did when you were a teenager, "Junior Battles EP" represents a good reminder of why you used to love the genre so much back then. It's solid, catchy, harmonic pop punk that doesn't come in this form too often anymore.

Download: Major Label Bidding War
For the fans of: The Loved Ones, The Bouncing Souls, Allister
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.05.2010
Square Up Records