The Lifetime influence Oslo, Norway's Death Is Not Glamorous continues to exhibit on their new EP, Undercurrents, is getting to the point of hilarity. While the band in question is obviously a little poppier in nature, they are not hiding the fact that it's worn so well on their collective sleeves, you'd think the cloth from which it's sewn has been sitting in some Salvation Army for years.

But what DING lacks in originality, they more than make up for it in energy, fun, and musicianship.

There's considerable growth shown here from their promising 2005 demo (recently remastered and reissued stateside by State of Mind Recordings). While the style here is inherently poppy, fast melodic hardcore, the moods are mixed up at least slightly. The moderately more serious and emotional pair of "Foreground" (whose main riff makes it sound like a tribute to Lifetime's "Rodeo Clown") and "Second Step" counteracts nicely to the sardonic and upbeat duo of "The Three C's" and "Bring It Back." What's really funny is the band's gang vocals in "Call It in the Air" -- the suddenly loose production on them causes flashbacks to, say, some old Bold record.

I continue to like what I hear from Death Is Not Glamorous. Any band naming themselves after an Embrace song lyric is bound to have some pressure put on them, but DING relieve it unpredictably with 6 songs of substance oozing poppunkhardcore, as they might say in Europe.

Bring It Back

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Second Step