Shatter590
09/08/07, 01:08 PM
The Methadones – This Won’t Hurt
Record Label: Red Scare Records
Release Date: July 10, 2007
There are plenty of “superstar bands” out there. You know the ones I am referring to - bands like Avoid One Thing, Hazen Street, Osaka Popstar - bands which tend to rely on their members’ fame and reputation to sell records. And they have appeared throughout the musical landscape for as long as I can recall, either as side projects or as a revival for artists seeking that one last gasp for fame. Fortunately, The Methadones are not one of these bands.
Formed by Dan Schafer of Screeching Weasel in the 90s as a side project, the band have come and gone through the years as its members rose or fell, often disbanding and reforming. Their latest offering, This Won’t Hurt, comes on the heels of their last album, 2006’s 21st Century Power Pop Riot, and is once more chock full of pop-punk songs about anything the band seem to take interest in.
The album opens with the solid "Six Degrees of Separation," a track so catchy it can be replayed more than a few times and still grab the listener’s attention. This segues into the midlife crisis song “Growing Old/Losing Touch,” which any pop punk artist or fan over the age of 25 can easily relate to. The following track, “Poor Little Rich Girl,” changes subject matter, but not the musical inclinations, and is yet another technically-simple yet very hooky burst of melody and vocals.
This theme is found on virtually every song on the album, from the fast repetition of “Where Did You Hide the Sun” to the slower “Falling Forward.” From an aesthetic standpoint, there isn’t much to the songs themselves - their strength lies in their resplendent hooks, toe-tapping melodies, and vocals. Very little is wasted here - the songs are the perfect length, not too long to drag nor too short to enjoy (except “Six Degrees of Separation,” which in this case only adds to the replay value of the song). The album has solid production values, enough polish without sounding too slick, and none of the instruments overpower the vocals or each other. The lyrical content doesn’t stray far from the classic pop-punk (with more emphasis on punk) formulas found in the 90s, nor do the vocals wail or whine.
Given the glut of pop-punk bands that infiltrated the scene at the end of the last century, and the relative drought of mainstream albums in recent years, The Methadones give some definite fresh air to the genre as a whole. While nothing remarkable or new, This Won’t Hurt is definitely an enjoyable and quality release, with enough potential to be a classic, or at least deserving of a long shelf life.
Standout tracks: “Six Degrees of Separation,” “Poor Little Rich Girl,” “Falling Forward”
For fans of: The Descendents, pre-Americana Offspring, Bad Religion
Record Label: Red Scare Records
Release Date: July 10, 2007
There are plenty of “superstar bands” out there. You know the ones I am referring to - bands like Avoid One Thing, Hazen Street, Osaka Popstar - bands which tend to rely on their members’ fame and reputation to sell records. And they have appeared throughout the musical landscape for as long as I can recall, either as side projects or as a revival for artists seeking that one last gasp for fame. Fortunately, The Methadones are not one of these bands.
Formed by Dan Schafer of Screeching Weasel in the 90s as a side project, the band have come and gone through the years as its members rose or fell, often disbanding and reforming. Their latest offering, This Won’t Hurt, comes on the heels of their last album, 2006’s 21st Century Power Pop Riot, and is once more chock full of pop-punk songs about anything the band seem to take interest in.
The album opens with the solid "Six Degrees of Separation," a track so catchy it can be replayed more than a few times and still grab the listener’s attention. This segues into the midlife crisis song “Growing Old/Losing Touch,” which any pop punk artist or fan over the age of 25 can easily relate to. The following track, “Poor Little Rich Girl,” changes subject matter, but not the musical inclinations, and is yet another technically-simple yet very hooky burst of melody and vocals.
This theme is found on virtually every song on the album, from the fast repetition of “Where Did You Hide the Sun” to the slower “Falling Forward.” From an aesthetic standpoint, there isn’t much to the songs themselves - their strength lies in their resplendent hooks, toe-tapping melodies, and vocals. Very little is wasted here - the songs are the perfect length, not too long to drag nor too short to enjoy (except “Six Degrees of Separation,” which in this case only adds to the replay value of the song). The album has solid production values, enough polish without sounding too slick, and none of the instruments overpower the vocals or each other. The lyrical content doesn’t stray far from the classic pop-punk (with more emphasis on punk) formulas found in the 90s, nor do the vocals wail or whine.
Given the glut of pop-punk bands that infiltrated the scene at the end of the last century, and the relative drought of mainstream albums in recent years, The Methadones give some definite fresh air to the genre as a whole. While nothing remarkable or new, This Won’t Hurt is definitely an enjoyable and quality release, with enough potential to be a classic, or at least deserving of a long shelf life.
Standout tracks: “Six Degrees of Separation,” “Poor Little Rich Girl,” “Falling Forward”
For fans of: The Descendents, pre-Americana Offspring, Bad Religion