Album Review: Zebrahead - Get Nice!

It’s very easy to dismiss Zebrahead these days, but after listening to their latest album, 'Get Nice!', the best bit of advice I can give, is to just give it a chance, admittedly there are one or two complete duds, but otherwise this 14-song album is great.

Things kick off with “Blackout”, like most of the songs on the album it’s a chorus-led song, and it’s done so well. “Nothing To Lose” will inevitably be a single, it sounds as if it’s pretty much a sequel to 'Broadcast To The Worlds'',“Anthem”. The momentum of the album drops dramatically with “She Don’t Wanna Rock”, which sounds like a Jedward song and doesn’t have any place on the album at all.

Throughout the rest of the album, it doesn’t gets as bad as “Don’t Wanna Rock” again. Title track, “Get Nice!” is a massive pop hit, while “Nudist Priest” again uses the chorus effectively, but still having strong verses to back it up. It’s probably the best song on the album, with a solo to make you melt.

It’s hard to discuss the rest of the album without immediately mentioning the chorus'. To give a good 90 per cent of the album such big chorus’ needs to be commended, because it’s a very difficult thing to achieve.

As we enter into the second half of 2011, I think we can all agree it’s been an absolutely incredible year for music. 'Get Nice!' has surprised me massively – I wouldn’t rule out this album being in my top 15, if not top 10, come the end of it and I can only urge anyone with a vague interest in pop-punk to give this album a try.

4/5

'Get Nice!' is out July 29th.

Chris Marshman