The Offseason

Pride And Progress / Goin' For Broke

Written by: TL on 09/01/2012 20:09:43

It seems there's been a bit of a trend in the states lately, where bands borrow terms from sports when they need to name themselves. At least I'm calling it a trend, having discovered bands like Late In The Playoffs, Gameday Regulars and The Offseason all within relatively short time of each other. The latter of the three, The Offseason, are a pop-punk quartet from Boston, and we were sent their debut record for review a while back. Judging from the title; "Pride And Progress / Goin' For Broke", I get the sense that this might be a compilation of two previous recordings (I mean didn't I see an EP just called "Goin' For Broke" on the internet somewhere a while ago?), but given that I've received no promotional information and that a (very) quick google search didn't prove helpful, I have no real way of confirming this hunch.

Regardless, the disc comes advertised as for the fans of The Wonder Years, and indeed, it quickly becomes apparent that these guys aim to play bright, melodic, energetic and polish-free pop-punk, directly comparable to bands like The Wonder Years, With The Punches and Me Vs Hero. Needless to say, if you like your pop-punk bouncy, no frills and full steam ahead, this should be right up your alley. Personally, I must admit that being compared to With The Punches and The Wonder Years wasn't entirely fortunate for The Offseason to start out with though, given how they, apart from the similar sound, initially seemed to fail entirely at producing equally good songs as the flat out fantastic ones produced by either of the two contemporaries.

Given a handful of listens however, "Pride And Progress / Goin' For Broke" should start to open up to even the most ardent sceptic, mostly courtesy of the heroics typically performed by the band's lead guitarist towards the end of songs. This is evident more than anywhere in highlight track "Fifteen Minutes Of Lame" which opens with a deliciously larger-than-life tapped melody and closes with a sweeping refrain, but a track like "Dirt Nap" also manages to earn some recognition based on a fairly good hook in the chorus.

In fact, songs like those, as well as "Thanks For Nothing" and "Livin' The Dream" seem to make a better impression - contrary to what you would expect - when compared to some of the early songs on the disc, such as openers "Forfeit" and "Pride And Progress", which operate at near Caleb Lionheart-speed. This seems strange, at least to me, as I love me some Caleb Lionheart, but when The Offseason try that approach, they seem to be in such a rush that they forget to include the good melodies. Then they're better off pacing themselves just a bit, as seen in the songs I've recommended. So I guess here's to hoping that those are examples of their later material, and that the band will continue to grow in that direction.

7

Download: Fifteen Minutes Of Lame, Dirt Nap, Thanks For Nothing, Livin' The Dream
For The Fans Of: The Wonder Years, With The Punches, Me Vs Hero
Listen: facebook.com/theoffseason

Release Date 11.10.2011
Barret Records

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