Mxpx

Mxpx

Written by: PP on 11/10/2018 22:34:05

Pop punk legends Mxpx return with their first album in six years and their tenth overall (not counting the covers and Christmas albums), and what a statement of continuity it is. Not missing a beat since 2012's excellent "Plans Within Plans", they continue to push out straight up, mid-90s style pop punk with infectiously catchy choruses and straight up, three-chord guitars all the way through. There's no need for evolution or re-inventing the wheel when you're just this good album after album, delivering the goods with frightening consistency. That's why "Mxpx" might just be the aptest eponymously named title I've come across because in its essence, "Mxpx" sounds exactly like Mxpx. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fortunately for all of us, the base level is sky-high so there's nothing to worry about. Opening track "Rolling Strong" is, therefore, a mission statement of sorts, a sublime track with a driving, signature style upbeat rhythm, led by Mike Herreras unassuming, straight-up pop punk vocals. "All Of It" is one of the catchiest tracks the band has written in recent memory, not to even mention it is as quintessentially Mxpx track as they come. "20-20 Hindsight" is breakneck speed pop punk 90s style, and "The Way We Do" is ridiculously catchy as-is. "Life Goals" mixes the raw style with slicker vocal hooks, finishing with memorable "it's good to have life goaaaaals" repeating croons, and "Pipe Dreams" is just everything you want your pop punk song to be. Fast, tight instrumentation, guitar slides, great melodies, and a huge, instantly catchy chorus to highlight it as one of the best straight-up pop punk tracks on the record. If I were to nutshell the entire 90s pop punk scene into one song, it would be this one.

But not only is the record song after song of pop punk godhood, but the lyrics are equally brilliant if you've been with the band over all these years. It reads like a journey through Mxpx experiences, the ups and downs over the years, some of them drenched in yearning nostalgia about the time Face To Face destroyed their van and the likes, and others dealing with the modern touring life and how awesome life in a band can sometimes be.

Perhaps best of all, "Mxpx" is the album that you always wanted to hear after you grew tired of the summery side of pop punk bands or those bands that sold out sound wise. This is what it's all about, guys. Twenty-five years later, Mxpx is never selling out and are still writing some of best, catchiest pop punk around. One of the 2018 highlights without a doubt.

Download: All Of It, The Way We Do, Pipe Dreams, Life Goals, Uptown Streets, 20-20 Hindsight, Moments Like This
For the fans of: No Use For A Name, Screeching Weasel, Frenzal Rhomb, Allister, Midtown, The Swellers
Listen: Facebook

Release date 25.07.2018
Self-Released

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

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.