The Bouncing Souls

The Gold Record is the 7th studio album from New Jersey’s Bouncing Souls. These guys are veterans of punk rock and they’ve lasted no less than 19 years with more to be promised. The gold theme continues right into track one. “The Gold Song” is a typical catchy, fast punk rock song with its rhyming lyrics funnily enough, all about gold. These guys have received small-scale radio play with this new album and it’s easy to see why, with its fast, free songs with a touch of commercial smoothness.

“So Jersey” is next song and it slips in with a quiet basic intro and then launches into the typical Bouncing Souls’ sound that their fans love. The lyrics are more improved in this song yet equally as catchy as “The Gold Song.” It does however lack that radio friendly rhyming that drives their pop punk success.

These guys do have some catchy intros and “Sounds Of The City” is no different. It is another fast, upbeat song that will get everybody off their feet at the next party that you hear this. These guys hit it on the head every time for their simple, yet effective vocals and their catchy riffs. You can’t deny the yet again simple, but effect solos of these guys too, which just help bridge the parts of songs together. It’s not like Bouncing Souls haven’t had years of experience to perfect this.

“The Pizza Song” is different, much different, but a good different. A nice mellow acoustic guitar slides in with Greg Attonito’s easy to recognise voice guiding you into this different sound. Along with a melodic accordion and trumpet this song really stands out and I have to say is one of the best songs on this album. It’s typical Bouncing Souls lyrics, but a different, refreshing sound beneath the vocals. Not only does the song stop the flow of similar sounding pop punk songs but it makes this album more interesting and more stood out from the rest. This talent is clearly why the Bouncing Souls have survived so long in the business.

“Sarah Saturday” gets Bouncing Souls back on track to what has to be close to, if not the best song on this album. Bouncing Souls are criticised for their cheesy, not too inventive lyrics, but it’s the pop hook of these vocals that makes this contender for song of the album. A typical song sound and structure but the hard rock ending really builds this song up with it everlasting pop hook.

Unfortunately the rest of this album is pretty much the same as above. A strong start to this album with a variation of sounds gave it promise; however its exclusivity does fade towards the end. None of the songs are unlistenable, but I can guarantee there will be a point on listening to this album where one thinks “I’m bored of this sound.”

However, these guys have had success with this album. High amount of radio play and a fairly high rate of record sales prove the Bouncing Souls are as popular as they’ve ever been. If you like Bouncing Soul’s earlier songs you will too like this slightly evolved sound. There is not one bad song on this record and if you have a love of punk pop or just generally punk, you will love this album. It’s repetitive, but that’s what brings you back time and time again to listen to it more. It is harder and harder to put down with every listen. Maybe one day these guys will break through into the mainstream industry, they deserve it after album after album of great, catchy music. These guys are very popular but only in sub genres, but they do have the potential to hit it big.

The Gold Record hit stores on 06/06/06 and had some coincidence to it as some Bouncing Souls hardcore fans believe this is actually the 6th studio record as one was just a release of already released songs. Although officially it is their 7th studio album, this record is highly listenable and does have a lot of talent within which is why it receives a 8 out of 10.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. The Gold Song
02. So Jersey
03. Sounds of the City
04. The Pizza Song
05. Sarah Saturday
06. Better Things
07. The Messenger
08. Lean on Sheena
09. Letter From Iraq
10. The New Thing
11. Midnight Mile
12. For All The Unheard

Run Time: 44:24