MxPx
Secret Weapon
This Bremerton trio has avoided releasing any duds in their long career. And this album might stand as one of their highlights, along with Life In General, Slowly Going... or The Ever Passing Moment. It might also be their most spiritually-minded album (see “You’re On Fire”) since the early, early days or maybe when they sang other’s lyrics in On The Cover. The expected effervescence is present all over these 16 songs, as is the always impressive musicianship and tightness. Mike Herrera sounds like he’s not on autopilot and may actually be passionate about what he’s singing; but it’s slightly more relaxed than, say, desperate. As the band has aged (gasp), they’ve matured into more rock than rebellious punk, which might explain the chord structures and riffs being more straight-forward. Still, in songs like “Contention” guitarist Tom Wisniewwski will scrape his pick across the strings for a second just to remind us how much fun slop and attitude can sound. Lyrics like “Punk Rock Celebrity” and “Shut It Down” seems to show MxPx not taking themselves too seriously, yet still willing to point a finger and lecture with empathy in their voice, experience on their side. You’ll hear their tongue firmly planted in cheek in “Top Of The Charts.” What’s great about this album is that it gets better and picks up a little more frantic pace as it plays on. It’s hard to pick what’ll be live favorites in the future, but “Never Better Than Now” might be one of those.
[Tooth & nail] Doug Van Pelt
This album review was originally published in the July?August Issue (#126) of HM Magazine. Order the Print Version to read tons more reviews. You can do this online or find this issue on newsstands. You can NOW read this entire feature in the current online edition of HM Magazine. Future digital issues can be purchased online for $1.99, and digital subscriptions will be only $6.
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