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Urethane

Chasing Horizons

Written by: PP on 25/12/2021 15:18:17

Urethane is an awful name for a band, but that's about the only negative you can attribute to the project spearheaded by skateboarding legend Steve Caballero (also known in music circles from The Faction, Odd Man Out, and a few other projects). He has teamed up with Dylan Wade (The Bombpops), Chad Ruiz (Skipjack) and Tim Fennelly to write and release a quintessentially early 2000s punk rock record in the form of debut album "Chasing Horizons". If those sweet 90s melodicore days are among your favorite punk rock years, you're virtually guaranteed to fall for this album, at least if you don't mind the glaring similarities to some of the key bands in the genre.

So you pop on "Chasing Horizons" and off you go bopping your head to the melodically ringing "Wyoming" and its infectiously catchy chorus. But if your first thought isn't hello Alkaline Trio, then you probably haven't ever heard their records "From Here To Infirmary" and "My Shame Is True". For virtually the entire album, Urethane sounds almost indistinguishable to either one of the two records, varying between the darker realms of the former and the brighter melodies of the latter. Songs like "Gravity" are directly lifted off the Skiba playbook, while the saddened flavor of "Cut The Rope" wears its Dan Andriano influence proudly on its sleeve. If I don't know better, I'd be willing to wager big money that Skiba and Andriano were secretly behind "Chasing Horizons" and Steve Caballero was just a front.

But hey, that is absolutely not a criticism of the album. Anyone reading this magazine knows about my undying love for Alkaline Trio's bittersweet melodies, so any band that successfully adapts their soundscape as their own, while still delivering so many brilliantly catchy songs as Urethane does here, is OK in my books. And guess what? Another name that keeps popping up on songs like "Love Letter Bombs" is No Use For A Name. Calling Urethane an effective cross between Alkaline Trio and NUFAN is probably the best way to characterize them, which makes them the perfect Christmas present for anyone into melodic punk rock. No wonder they were able to attract guest vocals by Pennywise's Jim Lindberg on "Inheritance" and H2O's Toby Morse on "Avalanches", both perfect fits adding their flavor to the soundscape on each track.

Overall, "Chasing Horizons" is a godsend for any Alkaline Trio fan waiting for their next genre classic to arrive. Urethane does a near-perfect job here reproducing their sound without sounding like a total rip-off. If anything, the debut is a beautiful tribute to one of the best band's in the genre, and you get the same skate punk godhood in the same package as well. What's not to love?

Download: Carousel, Gravity, Wyoming
For the fans of: Alkaline Trio, GOB, The Bouncing Souls, No Use For A Name, The Swellers
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.09.2021
Cyber Tracks