Rating: 8/10
By Luigi Sibona
Here’s a slice of trashy, hooky-as-hell skate punk for you. Trash Boat are back with their sophomore album and once again, us Brits are showing the world how it’s done.
While the mainstream sand down any edge pop-punk ever had with the homogenized beige of Waterparks and State Champs, it’s heartening to have a band that revel in what so many gladly shed for a pop at mainstream airtime.
These guys sound like a proper punk band thanks in large part to Andrew Wade’s production, making every tom hit and barbed chord punch appropriately resulting in an even bigger sounding record than The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell produced debut, ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’.
With album opener, ‘Inside Out’, you’re treated to everything great about ‘Crown Shyness’ off the bat; sharp, gut-punching, emotionally raw delivery and skyscraper-sized hooks. Paired with similarly massive second track, ‘Shade’, Trash Boat open up proceedings with a hell of a one-two punch.
Listen to ‘Inside Out’ here:
Album standout, ‘Controlled Burn’, crackles with a wicked hardcore edge, throwing out beatdown elements reminiscent of best of New Found Glory with added bite.
The pop-punk ballad sees it’s return with title track, ‘Crown Shyness’. Maybe this is a ‘it’s me, not you’ thing, but I don’t need to hear another pace-breaking slow track crammed between ragers I’d much rather be listening to. ‘Good Riddence (Time Of Your Life)’ has a lot to answer for. It sticks out as everything else on the record has such urgency. It’s a trough but doesn’t dampen the peaks, of which are numerous and hit hard.
This is an untamed whippersnapper of a record; a soundtrack to bomb hills to as well as rage against pent-up anxieties. With Neck Deep setting the standard for straight-up pop-punk, Trash Boat are chucking thrashing skate-punk, beatdown hardcore and hyper-melodic emo into the mix to make a potent and addictive witches brew and a rad punk rock record to boot.
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