Review: Bouncing Souls - Comet

 There are almost hundreds of bands that pop punk enthusiasts could look at and claim that it was they who had a considerable impact and influence on the genre that still upholds to this day as it did in the late 80s, but there are few bands that have managed to unleash the dizzying rush of cheer that New Brunswick punks Bouncing Souls have managed since 1987. With a continuous string of hook filled happiness throughout their nine album career, the latest addition  Comet proves that after relentless touring and years of being an influential yet widely unknown band has had no effect in bringing them down.

 Of course, there's always a threat for bands making simple punk songs that put heart and melodies over technical glory and complexity to start sounding stale if the same musical principles are kept to and with the rise of newer bands that deal in a similar musical manner like The Menzingers and Our Time Down Here, (whose Midnight Mass album appears to have received little coverage. That should change.) there's questioning that goes towards just how much the Bouncing Souls still have on offer in this realm of homegrown punk, when they could very easily try making a glossier pop punk album.

 But with words like "heart" and "soul" being required to describe the sound in which Bouncing Souls specialize, a more romantic outset must be flowing through the listener to get with their music as Comet crackles delicately over a tender fire of melodies and warm punk exuberance. Opener Baptized with it's charged up assault of hook filled riffage and classic poppy songwriting proves this with ease along with the winding basslines and rapid-fire rampages of Fast Times and We Love Fun, the latter of which plays out with a cheeky grin and intentionally lame lyrics that you have no choice but to feel the fun of.

 As well as setting phasers on fun for songs like these in such a way that out-matches many names in pop punk, there's also an existing grace of classic blue-collar homeland punk writhing across Comet and the purely earthly tones that emerge from Coin Toss Girl proves the classic influence can be found easily. It's also because the choruses main riff is strikingly similar to that of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run but we'll leave that aside.

 As good as Bouncing Souls are at making anthems for good time, it wouldn't be a full album without the band stepping out of the circle of total joy and the much more heartfelt and gripping moments come from the gut wrenching tones of concern from frontman Greg Attonito on Static and the impassioned band effort on mixing hard hitting hooks with more tender melodies on the blissful title track.

 Indeed, the making of homeland punk with a battered twinkle and ability to produce poppy hooks that will forever be viewed as being one of the many catalysts towards the pop punk movement has not been lost been lost by the Bouncing Souls. Sure nothing is done to reinvent the sound of punk music but if punk albums like this can continue, it's going to be a long time before punk as we know and love it grows stale in any way.

 Bouncing Soul's Comet is out now via Rise. The band will play at the Reading and Leeds Festival from 24-25 August.