H2O – “Use Your Voice” [Album Review]

It’s 2015 and New York punks H2O have been peddling their punk rock wares for over twenty years now so don’t go expecting them to change on Use Your Voice. Also, clocking in at just over twenty minutes, don’t go expecting any time to settle into this one either.

Use Your Voice is standard H2O skate punk fodder. Fast paced, frantic punk rock with a melodic twist played on battered instruments is the order of the day with frontman and punk rock veteran Toby Morse barking his positive messages over the top of it. With a career that has lasted over twenty years (and a scene history going back a lot further), Morse knows exactly what makes the punk rock audience tick and Use Your Voice covers every base. The twenty-odd minutes are packed with big gang choruses, singalong lyrics, melodies and fast old-school skate-punk riffing. ‘#Not Real Life’ sees Morse take a swipe at social media as he sneers ‘trying to make the world to see something you’re not’ – while the man has a point, it’s thankfully an accusation you could never level at these New York veterans more so listening to the tried and tested formula used throughout Use Your Voice.

At this stage in their career, H2O probably don’t expect to attract any new fans. The punk rock scene loves H2O and H2O loves the punk rock scene – neither party really knows any different and neither party really expects any different. So, for all parties concerned, it’s hard to consider Use Your Voice as nothing less than a resounding success.

Track Listing:

01. Black Sheep
02. Skate!
03. Thick and Thin
04. Use Your Voice
05. Father Figure
06. From the Heart
07. Popage
08. LYD
09. Still Dreaming
10. #NotRealLife
11. True Romance

Run Time: 22:11
Release Date: 9th October 2015

Check out the track ‘Black Sheep’ here.