Album Reviews
Oh God, how clich€d! The cover of Squad Five-0's new
album, Late News Breaking, features a depiction of
an American flag with a cute little pistol on top. I
figured that this would be another "We hate the
government, oi oi" album. Upon my first listen, I was
surprised to find that Squad Five-0 could not be
stereotyped like that.
Late News Breaking is Squad Five-O's contribution
to the recent trend of politically-charged albums in
light of the upcoming American elections. What
distinguishes this effort from the countless others that
tackle such material is its ability to keep the musical
aspect of their sound quick and light - reminiscent of
recent Rancid offerings. While some would call them
sell-outs because of their light sound, I prefer to think
of them as a fun pop-punk quintet with enough substance
to keep their listeners' minds active.
The CD's strong points include the opening and closing
tracks ("Always Talkin', Never On The Run" and
"Everything"), "Bye American," and the poppy track "No
Heroes." Squad Five-0 has accomplished the mandate set
out by their new label, Capitol: they've created an album
that is easy on the ears, is packed with meaningful
social commentary, and sounds like the band thoroughly
enjoy what they're doing.
~
Nikolas Kirincic
This
band has gone punk, glam, and rock, and now moving in the
same groove of their last album does not fail to impress.
The music displays a complexity lacking in their last
albums with the instruments harmonizing and cooperating
instead of banging away at the same progression. The
"sound" retains some of the fuzziness and fun that too
much producing can strip from the music. The lyrics are
what intrigued me immediatly. The lyrics are mature,
socially conscious and at times profound, representing a
mind that has awakened to the broken world. The lyrics
are gritty, bitter, and always tinged with hopefullness.
I highly recommend this album; it's rock with artistic
and lyrical strength and integrity. I hope I can thank
the band personally for this album.
~Anne Carlini
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