Nicotine hails from Tokyo, Japan and is one of the most popular punk bands over in Japan, and quite possibly most of Asia, and on their newest release "Samurai Shot", it is easy to see why this band may win a fanbase here. Nicotine is a 4 piece pop-punk and reminded me of a poppy NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, and on some songs Blink 182.

The topics of these songs range from more serious ones about being yourself and doing your own thing, as well as questioning the things around you and not taking everything at face value ("Far Away" "Bio Blood Society"). They also provide the punk stable, a anti-cop song ("Cop Magnet"). Others go for a more lighthearted and sill fare with songs about shark attacks, getting a 300 perfect game, and getting ready to rock at a show ("Killer Shark Attack" "300 Perfect Game" "We Are Ready To Rock"). Nicotine also gives a glimpse into their family life with talk of a punk ass brother and a prostituting mom ("Jimmy Is My Punk Ass Brother" My Mom"). One of the coolest tracks one the album is a punk sing-along to "Do They Know Its Christmas" which includes members of other Japanese and Asian Man bands including: Mike Park (Asian Man), Dan Potthast (MU330), Ellie (Queen Of Hearts), Brian (MINX), Kuruma (Bee's Knees), Eji (Stuck Inside), Daigo & Fumi (To Grows).

Over all, the music and words were really catchy and got stuck in my head really quickly, and the production on this was excellent, but I had some mixed emotions about the songs. I really enjoyed the more serious songs that were about doing your own thing and the society types of songs, but I found myself skipping over the more funny/silly songs. I think that this will be an album that a lot of people that are newer to the scene can use to get into underground artists. I would get this album if you like NOFX, Pennywise, Blink 182, pop-punk in general, or are getting into punk.