Album Review: Carridale - Relapse in the River City

It’s surprising from the get go with first track ‘How Did I End Up Here’ to discover that this band are unsigned, not necessarily because they are breaking ground with a fresh take on a stale genre, they certainly aren’t doing that. However this five piece are skin tight and neatly produced. Second track ‘A Lesson In Semantics’ is fast and surprisingly they have opted for the dropped D approach to pop punk which juxtaposes quite well with Nathan Edwards vocals. Smooth as a babies bottom but hovering way too close to the cliff, that is grating.

‘Count On Me’ is very much a three minute A Day To Remember chorus while ‘One Girl’s Trash Is Another Girl’s Trash’ speeds things along with all you have come to expect, flawless melodies with pretty hooks. ‘Relapse In The River City’ begins with some heavy dropped D and a distant growl, which seems to poke it’s head out and run back home to be replaced with those silky smooth vocals and a gang backing vocal. The lyrics aren’t exactly going to move you, but in points you can connect with narratives of being apart from friends and holding together distant relationships while, you revel in the solid stick action in the back, that really helps each track stand its ground. It’s also nice to see a band not simply falling into habits of generic open chord breakdowns that many bands have trouble breaking, replacing this clichéd approach is a generous amount of shredding.

‘Circular Logic’ carries things along in the same fashion with even a little bit of guitar solo action while ‘My Oubliette’ plays this EP out with the same pace it swung into action.

Pop-Punk is a genre that at times like these can be really disheartening; everything plays out on the surface while nothing seems to really engage you as a listener. It’s good to see a young band not following suite with tiresome bad habits but what you can’t ignore is the fact that you have heard every last bit of this EP before elsewhere within the pop punk genre, that isn’t to say that within other genres this doesn’t occur but for young bands you feel the need for progression and want to find something fresh, raw and surprising. But what you end up with is something instantly polished and annoyingly humdrum.

2.5/5

‘Relapse In The River City’ by Carridale is available now.

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Connor O’Brien