Get Out – ‘The Violation of Terms and Conditions’ [Album Review]

Based in Los Angeles, skate punk outfit Get Out recently dropped their long player, entitled The Violation of Terms and Conditions, glowering with an anti-establishment attitude.

Get Out explains, “When we released our last album, We Were Here First, in 2019, it was taken off Apple Music after one week because Apple claimed our album art ‘violated the terms and conditions.’ After we changed the artwork and resubmitted, Apple Music listed it as Metal (it is not) and placed it under a different artist of the same name (we’ve had this name since 1994). We have tried to contact our distributor as well as Apple music so many times, and no one will respond to us about it. The first song written for the album – ‘Rotten Apple’ – is a criticism of a corrupt corporation that only cares about the elite. Other tracks were inspired by the pandemic of 2020 as well as the state of affairs in our country and society.”

Made up of Ian Robbins (lead vocals, guitar), Luis Castro (vocals, guitar), Angel Vera (vocals, bass), and Chris Rios (drums), Get Out formed during the mid-’90s, followed by releasing their first album in 2001. Even the band admits it was awful.

Get Out then released another album, Better Than The Last One, followed by Still Not Famous, which received good reviews from family members and one minor newspaper. Get Out was, however, now playing for audiences with people in them. By the time they released Back Despite Popular Demand, Get Out was performing for sold-out crowds in big venues, sharing the stage with Voodoo Glowskulls, Streetlight Manifesto, and Suburban Legends.

Like all of us, they began getting older. Jobs took priority over music, and band members skipped practices. In 2012, Get Out dropped their album, Thank You and Goodnight, followed by their last show.

A few years later, Get Out returned, dropping their album, We Were Here First, in 2019.

Their eighth album, The Violations of Terms and Conditions, encompasses 17 tracks, beginning with “6 Feet Apart,” travelling on snarling guitars riding a potent rhythm and highlighted by gang harmonies.

Get Out

Entry points include “Florida Man,” with its blistering intro and pop-punk flavours. “The Right Is Wrong” features heavy, growling guitars atop a frenetic rhythm, along with melodic vocals that are almost elegant. A dazzling, fiery guitar solo gives the tune incendiary heat.

A personal favourite, “We’re the Opening Band,” merges pop-punk and pop-rock elements into a feel-good song brimming with Top 40 zest. Bristling with a hi-octane intro, followed by descending to a low-slung, almost delicate melody that kicks into overdrive once again, “Rotten Apple” ebbs and rises with heaving flair.

Other worthwhile tracks comprise “Outside,” featuring Angel Vera’s impressive work on his bass guitar; “Dum It Down,” a chock-a-block, pushing pop-punk tune seething with fat, chunky guitars, sizzles; while “It’s Not Easy Minnie Green” conjures up suggestions of early Fall Out Boy on steroids.

Replete with unexpectedly superb vocal harmonies, as well as pungent pop-punk oomph, The Violation of Terms and Conditions is beaucoup splendid.

The Violation of Terms and Conditions Track Listing:

1. Six Feet Apart
2. Florida Man
3. Bitchface
4. The Right is Wrong
5. We’re the Opening Band
6. Bipolar Bear
7. Florida Woman
8. Remember
9. Rotten Apple
10. Outside
11. Our Fan
12. Florida
13. Dum It Down
14. Family Circus
15. It’s Not Easy Minnie Green
16. The End of Florida
17. See You Soon

Run Time: 46:00
Release Date: January 5, 2023
Record Label: Independent