PUP’s sophomore release is as honest with itself and its listeners as you could hope for. It’s angst-ridden, earnest, and fun as hell. The opening track seems overly aggressive, until you realize it’s about touring woes. “For a second, let’s be honest. Nothing you do will clean your filthy conscience. Everything you do makes me want to vomit and if this tour doesn’t kill you, buddy I’m on it.” This sense of humour is (mostly) carried over into the rest of the material on the record, and where humour is lacking, energetic riffs and saccharine pop-punk hooks fill every void with loud guitars and head-banging goodness.
Highlights include “Doubts,” which is such a tightly funky track that it would make a solid danceable pop hit if it weren’t for all the screaming and fuzzed guitars. “The Coast” and “Pine Point” are two tracks which could be considered ballads, given their considerably slower pace and gradual build up. Both devolve into distorted guitar licks and a bevy of drum fills, however. If you want to revisit your early teen angst (and maybe remember why you haven’t gone back to that old diary since you put it down in the seventh grade), then PUP’s the band for you.
