Like Stay What You Are and Career Suicide, the Bomb's Speed Is Everything carries kind of a misnomer with its title. Though the band's been noted for reprising Naked Raygun frontman Jeff Pezzati in a (somewhat) newer role, it's also been cited as playing less hardcore-influenced than NR's most speedy years but more punchy than their power-pop period. And the newest full-length, Speed Is Everything affirms it just a little bit more.

Speed unabashedly nods to D.C./west coast pop-punk but with a pretty mature slant, kinda like the later and slower, more reflective Dag Nasty stuff with some Hüsker Dü mixed in. Pezzati could actually use a little more 'umph' to his voice when he's shouting that hook in opener "The Kids" to match the urgency at hand, but it's a solid, catchy joint all the same, and the same can largely be said for the whole of the album. Despite the incredible deliberateness of the backing "ahh"s in "Not Christmas Night," Pezzati sounds a little more spontaneous at points and the rising, mid-tempo emotional take-out is cleansing and well-done.

Bob Nanna does some subtle guest vocals on the wandering, slower "Space Age Love Song," and you wish he played a greater role in the song; the song's Edge-like guitars are a little weird, but not too out there. The song's no "A Dozen Roses," though. One of the fastest tracks on the album, "Integrity" quickly follows, giving a serious and sudden dynamic, especially with Dan Yemin helping out with some intense title shouts (returning the favor for Pezzati appearing on Paint It Black's New Lexicon). While every song isn't a hit, the second half doesn't lag too much, which is nice. The feeling is easy to resonate with in "A Song for the Helenas," while "Spaceman" wields another bona fide hook.

There's some joke here to be made about watching the lit fuse attentively but never witnessing the actual explosion. Instead, let's say Speed Is Everything is another well-rounded and solid effort from the Bomb.

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Speed Is Everything