Don't be fooled: Louder Than Bombs don't carry much of the Smiths in their sort-of melodic hardcore sound, but they've got a handful of other unpredictable ideas reeling around the fountain anyway.

"Lost" kicks off the band's No News Is Good News with abrasive, almost tough-guy vocals punched over an oddly bouncy, sort of upbeat hardcore beat that, by the end, has adopted a Kid Dynamite-type vibe. It's a bizarre contrast, and I'm not entirely sure if I like it. "Obtuse" follows it, and does largely the same thing, though the vocals are a little scratchier.

Then shit gets funky in "Is Peace Out of Reach". Smack in the middle you get a twinkle daddy part; it really comes out of nowhere. I mean, it's pretty good, but there's not much of a buildup to it. It's just sort of thrown in there, though the transition back to punky, melodic hardcore with scorched vocals is a little better thought-out.

"Never Growing Up" brings it down to a more moderate tempo and with better, more interesting guitar work. That scratchy, static-y bark-in the vein of a band like, say, All Teeth-still doesn't mesh with the music that well, but it follows the beat at least. There's super melodic, singing gang vocals in here too, though! It's a bit all over the place.

Louder Than Bombs are definitely trying to do something moderately different here, so props for that. But judging by their newer song, it seems like there's been an improvement in the songwriting and focus for their upcoming 7", so you may wanna hold off until then as the somewhat convoluted No News Is Good News seems to represent some early growing pains.

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No News Is Good News EP