Italians are famous for mixing several ingredients together and coming out with something that tastes good but usually isn't that good for you, and Forty Winks are no exception. They combine the sounds of todays biggest pop-punk styles to create their own version of MTV/radio approved pop-punk. The bands that they emulate are Ataris, Blink 182, and Dashboard Confessional with small bits of Alkaline Trio sprinkled in here and there.
Most of the CD plays as a combination of the Ataris and Blink 182. This is that it is standard pop-punk with semi-serious lyrics about love, loss, rejection, and all those other fun emotions associated with love. The Blink side of this band really stands out on "One Time, Two Times" and "Til The Moonlight Comes" which is a song about the difficulties of having a small penis. They show their Dashboard side on the intro to "Who Set The Rules" and the acoustic cover of their own song, which includes a harmonizing group of female vocals on the chouruses, "To the Very Lonely Hearts" On "Sick" I heard some guitar parts which reminded me of Alk3, but overall this band's sound is Blink meets the Ataris.
To further their takeover of the airwaves, Forty Winks covers an obscure Guns N' Roses song "You're Crazy" of which they do a mediocre job. This disc also has an enhanced feature which contains pictures of them, alternate cover art, and a 20 minute video of them in the studio. Speaking of which, on the video they all speak either in Italian or with heavy Italian accents, which is expected, but on the disc I couldn't hear a trace of one. They sounded just like any other American band, I think they should have kept the accents in, it would have given them some character, but it probably wouldn't sell.
This band is going to be getting huge soon, with the recent addition of them to the Abercrombie stores music and videos. This band plays basic MTV/radio formatted pop-punk, which they do a good job, pick this up if you like Blink, Ataris, or shopping at A&F.
MP3s
The Big Turnover
To The Lonely Hearts
Who Sets The Rules