(Vice Records)

Respecting your elders has its limits

Given the option, It’s always easier to review a good album than a bad one. Where with a good album you can just pull out the thesaurus and run through as many synonyms for rad as possible, you actually have to objectively point out the faults in a poor album, coming to the conclusion that ‘this is objectively pissweak’. Picking apart a band with a moderate legacy like Pierced Arrows falls somewhere on the non-enjoyment spectrum between picking apart an album from a band well-known for its high quality and tearing off a fingernail. Husband and wife Fred and Toody Cole, after two decades leading Oregon punk trio Dead Moon, teamed up new drummer Kelly Halliburton and Pierced Arrows was born. Apart from this change in time-keepers, nothing much seems to have changed. Fred Cole continues with a gravelly snarl as his vocal delivery style of choice, although it now sounds more like a cantankerous old man yelling at a bus driver. It’s punk rock, but only in the absence of any other clear indicators. All too often the lyrics of Fred and Toody are in competition, and their simple guitar and bass rhythms rarely interlock. I feel like a parent reprimanding their 18 year-old child … you’re old enough to know better. ‘Rough’ is not an aesthetic choice when it’s an excuse for not tuning up or playing in sync. And not all bands that have been around forever should be applauded for their longevity … Bon Jovi.

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MITCH ALEXANDER

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