PEARS – “Go To Prison” [Album Review]

Now, while I don’t profess to be any sort of expert on this kind of hardcore punk rock, I have to admit that there is something quite endearing about the chaos that these New Orleans scumbags peddle. Consisting of ten songs clocking in at about twenty-two minutes, Go To Prison, is a hit n’ run kind of album as the punk rock quartet batter through some chaotic hardcore punk leaving you dazed in a heap as they disappear off into the distance cackling loudly at the carnage they’ve left behind.

Each of the songs follows the same pattern as the band skid through their instrument-trashing racket with little attention to where they’re careering. The Descendants, the Dwarves, the Ramones, they’re all names bandied about when talking about these nutters and, as two minutes bursts of spazzed-out mayhem like “Forever Sad” rock out sounding like The Ramones playing in the middle of a bar brawl, you can see why the comparisons are being made.

The thing is though, dig through the madness and you’ll find some fantastic pop-punk melodies that quickly embed themselves in your brain. “Forever Sad” is one of those moments along with “Little Bags,” where you can just feel yourself wanting to pogo about your room.

Go To Prison isn’t a particularly graceful record, but it is honest and, with that injection of pop-punk melody, it makes for a fun twenty odd minutes and, for this kind of music, that’s probably the best you’re going to get.

Track Listing:

01. You’re Boring
02. Victim to Be
03. Breakfast
04. Sycophant
05. Forever Sad
06. Framework
07. Terrible
08. Judy Is a Punk
09. Little Bags
10. Grimespree

Run Time: 21:12
Release Date: July 25, 2015

Check out the song “Breakfast” here.