This new full length by The Anchor Boys is just proof that George Bluth was right all along, "there's always more bro-core punk bands in the banana stand." Maybe I'm not exactly quoting that verbatim, but I'm just changing it slightly to apply within my context. You know, the Fox News method of quoting. The Anchor boys are a pop-punk-hardcore (bro-core) band who hail from Philadelphia, the realm of The Wonder Years. I don't mean to shadow this band under the giant shade produced by TWY, but it just happens sometimes when you come from the same state and play the same genre. These are the facts of life, and they're all about bro-core. I think this release Devastator is their first full length, and it's coming out on iTunes Tuesday, so be prepared to buy this shit, if you like it and all.
The album starts off sounding more like Set Your Goals than it does the aforementioned Wonder Years., due to the guitar parts akin to Kid Dynamite and other more recent versions of 80s hardcore punk groups. There's a perfect blend of guitar leads, pounding power chords, and soft-voiced/powerful vocals between the two singers and guitarists Colin and Aaron. Some songs on this album take the SYG/bro-core feel and add sort of a more skate punk approach to it, which reminds me more of that band I reviewed a bit ago, With The Punches. I'm not saying WTP are skate punk...I'm just saying the influences were there.
Something that's not all too common with these type of bands anymore is the notion of bringing anything new to the table. I feel as though these guys may be just borrowing traits from other bands, but they also present their own genius into the equation. I mean, it's like Isaac Newton said, "If I ever made killer pop-punk it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." I think that one may actually be a verbatim quote, just saying.
"Blueberry Pancakes" is not only a song that is amazingly catchy and makes me shout "Dead to you!" and "Nothing with out you!" along everytime I hear it, but it also makes me jealous of my friend Olivia who is out with her family getting pancakes right now, while I'm sitting here next to a chubby chihuahua eating some oreo ripoff of girlscout thin mint cookies. Then "Kidney Stones" comes on and reminds me a lot of Four Year Strong and is definitely the type of music you get stoked on. I've had a couple job interviews that went nowhere this week, but to make sure I didn't through up from nerves before hand, I'd have to drive to the interview while blasting FYS, and it's good to know that there are even more options to blast when I need to get pumped. (Fuck you, get pumped!)
There's a problem that occurs to me whenever I review an album I really like, and that problem is not being able to rant about each song without taking up too much of everybody's time. I have to try to keep shit short and sweet. Every one of the songs boasts their own catchy vocals, awesome gang vocals, and awesome guitar leads. There's a lot of awesome intros here, and definitely some cool style changes in songs like "Here Comes Treble" (The Office reference, right?). There's even an acoustic intro on here, "Double Parked in Bridesburg", which of course turns into an energy filled blast when the electricity sparks and the acoustic is dropped for some hardcore-punk style pop-punk.
I think I dubbed this band as bro-core pretty accurately, as made clear by songtitles like "P-B-AARGH" and "Brosquito Bite". Seriously, are these guys trying to get in my proverbial pants, musically? Also, is getting into pants even a proverb? Yet? I think it's some sort of urban proverb by now. Maybe I don't really even understand proverbs. What's also cool about these bro songs is the fact that they're just awesome fucking songs. I'm really glad this band exists because I think I needed something new and of this genre to keep my head on straight and my boots on loose (what's up with the boots on your feet?). The awesome leads never let up throughout this entire release, and we're all super stoked on that.
The closing song on this album reminds me a lot of the way The Upsides closes. You get this soft intro for over a minute, and then you get the catchy powerchord ballad of singalong yells and guitar leads I'll probably never be able to compete with. That's how you end an album, folks. The great question has finally been answered in a permanent way. Or you end it in the middle of a song and just have it fade out, Sopranos style. It's whatever. Get this album.
-Idle
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