Boilerman's demo tape is a five-song slab of rough but riffy pop-punk that should appeal to fans of the Copyrights, the Dopamines, et. al.

The recording here is slightly stuffy, but not awful for a demo release, and it doesn't mask the songwriting potential one can hear Boilerman's got ahold of. The vocals are youthfully grainy and you can hear the band trying to freshen up the chords with some "fancier" playing of sorts in a song like opener "Stop Drop and Roll Won't Save You in Hell."

"Whipping Boys" is a scrappier, faster version of what they can do, but it's even got a muffled spoken-word part towards its finish à la something off Bivouac. "Boo Radley Game" has a surefire urgency to it too, but there's a lot of palpable heartache driving it along.

An easily promising EP from the Chicago act. It wouldn't be hard to imagine them appearing on a bigger label some time in the near future.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD
Demo 2010 EP