Album Review: Pennywise - 'Reason To Believe'
At least you know what you’re getting...
There is no way that this review
will be of a similar length to my usual write ups, because this is fucking Pennywise, and if you haven’t decided whether or not you like
the band after close to two decades then nothing I have to say will
change your mind.
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When it came time to reviewing Reason To Believe (PW’s ninth studio album) I thought about making
a list of pros and cons, but even that proved to be a problem. I’ll
use the following as an example: If I were to say that the record was
amazing because it sounds exactly the same as the last five albums then
the collective populations of Ocean Grove, Torquay and any other coastal
town that’s trapped in the mid nineties would let out a mighty roar
of approval! If however I said that the album was a let down due to
the obvious similarities to the band’s previous works then I’m sure
there’d be a large number of people that would also agree with that
statement.
Pennywise (and their many
fans) are firm believers of the “if it isn’t broken, then don’t
fix it” mentality, and you know what, there’s nothing wrong with
that!? In a day and age where bands change their musical style
as often as they changed their socks it’s almost refreshing to hear
a band stick to their guns and do what makes them happy. Sure, PW
aren’t going to attain another gold record a la About Time
but (as was recently proven on their umpteenth Australian tour) they
still have the ability to sell out venues all over the world, so more
power to them!
there are definitely some stand outs amongst the fifteen tracks on offer.
The almost metallic guitars of “One Reason” work well with the song’s
mid paced beat, while “Faith And Hope” is a sure fire crowd pleaser...
roughly translated that means it’s fast. The intro to “All We Need”
kind of sounds like the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”
(if it was on steroids) and “The Western World” harkens back to
the groove of one of the band’s more popular singles “Alien” (off
the Straight Ahead record), and although it’s bordering on the pop
side of punk “Confusion” is still a great song.
Long story short, if you like Pennywise then go and buy this record and support a band who are
still giving it a crack after twenty years. If not, go and download
a couple of tracks and enjoy the nostalgia.
- Intro (As Long As We
Can)
- One Reason
- Faith And Hope
- Something To Live For
- All We Need
- The Western World
- We’ll Never Know
- Confusion
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