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With the Punches

Keep It Going (2009)
self-released

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Brian
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on May 8th 2009

With the Punches get an incredibly cautious nod for doing a decent take on the newfangled pop-punk/hardcore wave with their Keep It Going EP.

This band should appeal to anyone who appreciates the newer bands of this style doing straightforward versions of it: I'm thinking early Fireworks, and maybe Set Your Goals to a mild extent. There's no overwrought mosh parts, keyboards or fake angry-man shouts -- just a singer that borders on overly cutesy, a relatively fast flow, a few gang vocal parts and mindless bits of melody to keep the EP afloat.

The legit influences are apparent in the fast-moving and well-done "Corporate Ladder Match," a title like "Thrill Your Idols" (which has guitar squeals that actually aren't terribly cringeworthy) or when their singer Jesse Vadala professes in the urgent "Stick and Move" that Jersey's Best Dancers is "the soundtrack that saved [his] life." The chorus of "Burned at Both Ends" is pretty big, but a good big, promising bigger things; still, from start to finish, this song's generally the type of slightly cheesy that somehow finds the 16-year-old in you and gets it stoked.

You have to know what you're getting by this point. Keep It Going, for better or worse, certainly keeps "it" going, but thankfully in a positive direction. A little more grit and guitar tone variance and this band could totally come up with something great.

STREAM
Burned at Both Ends
Stick and Move
Keep It Going

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mikexdude (May 9, 2009)

I'm sure "ex-highschool cool kids" are just as annoying, though, I wouldn't know, I'll always be cool.. and in highschool... sigh

slowstupidhungry (May 9, 2009)

And I didn't mean "ex high school," I meant "ex metalcore," seeing as I don't think that's a big trend anymore.

slowstupidhungry (May 9, 2009)

When I saw Cruel Hand, Daggermouth played and there were toooons of ex high schooler cool kids there. Too bad I left my GHB at home that night!

mikexdude (May 9, 2009)

Oh my god, Van Atta High is HORRIBLE.

inagreendase (May 9, 2009)

Gross. Everything about this band is horrible. Music to date rape 15 year old girls with fashion mullets to.

Aren't those kids too busy listening to shit like Van Atta High to know this even exists?

slowstupidhungry (May 9, 2009)

"If not a fraction more."

Gross. Everything about this band is horrible. Music to date rape 15 year old girls with fashion mullets to.

inagreendase (May 9, 2009)

So... You thought this was as enjoyable as Deathcycle?

If not a fraction more.

slowstupidhungry (May 8, 2009)

So... You thought this was as enjoyable as Deathcycle?

mikexdude (May 8, 2009)

Some trends can be okay with me... like say this whole 90's gruff post-hardcore thing (daylight, pbc, how dare you, make do and mend, transit), but this trend needs to seriously die. It's also such a closed miinded sub-sub genre thathhkgbnlfhb I don't know what I'm trying to say. This is getting played out to me.

MyStereoHasMono (May 8, 2009)

New Found Glory with double bass. That's right kids, it sucks. I'm at work right now streaming a song on their myspace, and it's a good thing I have my headphones on, cause if my boss heard this, he'd probably fire me. It's really about the company image. Our image is we're not pussies.

lessthangene (May 8, 2009)

Had this spinning non-stop for a month or so, I couldn't get enough of it. I also think it's funny that when I saw there was a review for this I knew who reviewed it without even opening it.