Kill Lincoln

Good Riddance To Good Advice EP

Written by: PP on 24/03/2015 01:30:05

Kill Lincoln is a Washington, DC-based ska punk band made up of dudes who have certainly been listening to Less Than Jake records in the past. They're playing upbeat ska-punk that's heavy on the horns and infectiously catchy melodies, big sing-alongs and danceable moments, which has allowed them to share the stage with some of the bigs guns in the genre, Reel Big Fish, LTJ and upstarts We Are The Union in recent years. "Good Riddance To Good Advice" is their latest EP, which might end up being their last considering the rather emotional message on their Facebook page about members moving to opposite corners of the country. For now. It's a shame because what I'm hearing on the EP might not be exactly original - in fact, it's essentially Less Than Jake lite - but results in a fun and catchy listen nonetheless.

It's rather unusual for ska to have lengthy instrumental sections, but Kill Lincoln do it at least twice on the record. For starters, the nearly two-minute opener "Ronald... Help Me" is all-instrumental, which is an interesting choice for ska but it works surprisingly good as a warm up track to the title track, that's as catchy as material in this genre comes. The second time it happens is on "8$ Beer Night", where the band bring in a lengthy party passage towards the end of the song where the guitar and horn section highlight an excellent dynamic that has been well utilized throughout the EP.

But that's not all. "Fire Starter" sees the band take a brief stint into metal, which is otherwise in complete contrast to the cheery ska punk melodies the rest of the songs consist of. Throaty screaming and metallic riffs bring to mind UK's Random Hand rather than Less Than Jake or We Are The Union; the horn section feels misplaced on this track and just sounds odd against the heavy instrumentation and screamed vocals. Luckily, most tracks are about passionate, slightly coarse and charismatic vocals instead, which lead the songs toward danceable trombones and trumpets, and of course punk rock style guitar riffs sure to get the circle pit going in live environments. The songs are catchy, even if they constantly reference classic LTJ material from the old days (or why not even "Greetings & Salutations" era?). It's a shame they are going on a hiatus for now, because these tracks suggest ska lovers have a lot to go after when it comes to Kill Lincoln in general.

7

Download: Good Riddance To Good Advice, Days I Spent Inside
For the fans of: Less Than Jake, The Real Danger, We Are The Union, Random Hand
Listen: Facebook

Release date 03.03.2015
Jump Start Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.