Black Tie Bombers

Black Tie Bombers: Eternal Happiness and Good HealthEternal Happiness and Good Health (2007)
Pinky Ring Records

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: BJRBJR
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Published on April 27th 2007The Black Tie Bombers (affectionately known as BTB) are a four-piece from Cincinnati that combine fun, fast melodic skatepunk with the emotion of hardcore and the melody and sensibility of pop-punk to make one of the best records of 2007. Yet the serious themes that drew me to this CD are juxtapo.

The Black Tie Bombers (affectionately known as BTB) are a four-piece from Cincinnati that combine fun, fast melodic skatepunk with the emotion of hardcore and the melody and sensibility of pop-punk to make one of the best records of 2007.

Yet the serious themes that drew me to this CD are juxtaposed by moments of hilarity and laughter. Take the album's intro: animals on the farm. When BTB was recording this album in the fall of last year they documented the process. The rooster crowing is in fact an Ewok doll that the band obsesses over throughout the recording and makes me laugh every time I listen to it. Personally I like every song on the record, as each one has a catchy guitar riff as well as a lively sharing of the vocal duties by the two guitarists, Josh Mlot and Jon Lewis, and bassist Ryan Rockwell. The bass is mixed in very well and helps to move the song by intertwining with the galloping drum beat. The lead guitar parts are particularly catchy and recall NOFX as well as adding complexity to the songs. Jon Lewis can go from a gruff yell to a melodic croon and Josh Mlot's vocals recall Rehasher, while Rockwell's all-out snottiness is a counterbalance to the more melodic tendencies of the other two vocalists.

The band's greatest strength is its ability to combine hardcore, pop-punk, and melodic punk. From the pure hardcore 13 seconds of "Stairway to Heaven" to the pop-punky goodness of "Girl I Want to Mess Up Your Hair," Eternal Happiness and Good Health demands repeat listens. The lyrics are also a step up from this band's previous works (Black Tie Bombers and Art Is Easy) and are much more in-depth, including personal stories carrying a positive message of perseverance.

For example, take this line from "The Return to Mohawk Valley" off of Art Is Easy: "The words are on the tip of my tongue dying to come home. Privileged enough to have a voice but things are different now. But we the privileged take it all for granted. Shut your fucking mouth. And we all now how it happens," compared to "East vs. West" from this album: "Tonight I'll be all alone, struggling just to stay awake and save myself from making all the same mistakes. Tonight I'll call you again and spend an evening with my friends. And try to forget all of the could-have-beens…" Not only are the songs more mature and introspective, but the music is more complicated and ultimately better.

As well, the band's live show is full of passion, energy, and precision befitting the catchiness of their music. Hopefully Pink Ring Records will give their record the push it deserves because by the third listen I was hooked and you definitely will be too.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Slazey (June 28, 2010)

Great album, highly derivative yet a helluva lot of fun. Reminds me a lot of We Are the Union in places, with a bit more variety in the vox.

mevsall (April 29, 2009)

I am continually amazed at how simple and great this album is.

LiamSaysYeah (January 30, 2008)

I fuckin love this album. Its not groundbreaking, its not pioneering but its good, honest, pretence-less punk rock and it fuckin rules. Best thing ive heard since I discovered D4 all that time ago.

badbrain (May 14, 2007)

this band is kinda weird, they have like 3 singers, one sounds like nofx, one sounds like fall out boy and one sounds like kid dynamite.

i cant help but like it though. musically they remind me of strung out / nofx / basic 90s skatepunk

Anonymous (May 11, 2007)

i love comments that make no sense on websites, so i'm going to comment on one that i saw under this review. a couple comments down someone says that you shouldn't stream shitty records when they're just gonna go in ruperts pockets anyway. so how exactly do you put an online stream of a record into someones pocket? also, there is only a single u in question not a double u. also, i listened to some of the stream of this record, because i come to this site to hear about bands. i mean, it is punknews afterall. i thought it was pretty alright stuff. not the best in the world by any means but nowhere near the worst stuff i've ever heard. i particularly listened to the girl i wanna mess your hair up song since that commenter mentioned it. after a listen it seems like that title was probably a joke. i'm suprised that person was so upset over a joke. anyway, if people don't want to hear about bands and what's going on with bands they should just stop coming to a website dedicated to such issues.

Anonymous (May 10, 2007)

Great album

martin*
New Zealand

Anonymous (May 3, 2007)

I don't think I want to read/hear anything about a band that has a song titled "girl I wanna mess up your hair."
also, I think I seem to remember one of the band members frequently promoting this terrible band one too many times this site....and now a clearly biased review and a album stream?
how more bands do we really need 'streaming records' shitty records when youre just gonna put that shit in rupert's pocket anyway?
or a better qwestion, BTB, how many ap dicks yall got cum stains on yo cheeks from?

Anonymous (April 30, 2007)

sickboi loves modest mouse.

Anonymous (April 30, 2007)

sickboi has been in college for 9 years! hhahahahahhahehehehehhohohoho

Anonymous (April 29, 2007)

sickboi should post his review!

salsashark (April 29, 2007)

BTB will probably one of the three Ohio punk bands to ever make it (aside from the ones that have passed), even if those lyrics are hilariously similar to "An Evening..."

Anonymous (April 29, 2007)

man im fucking gay and i like this record.... whats that tell you!

punkinohio (April 28, 2007)

bias review maybe???

Anonymous (April 28, 2007)

The next big thing?!

nocigar (April 28, 2007)

The Black Tie Bombers (affectionately known as BTB) are a four-piece from Cincinnati that combine fun, fast melodic skatepunk

I'm in.