Staring Back

As their name suggests, these California kids haven’t exactly moved forward since their last record. Playing melodic pop punk in the vein of Farside meets Pennywise, this is a functional set of songs that lacks the emotion and staying power that keeps you coming back. They are competent musicians and their lyrics have sincerity to them, but none of the 12 tunes here really manages to get their hooks into your ears. You could listen to this a few times, put it away for a month and listen to it again and you wouldn’t remember any of the songs.