Broadway Calls - Good Views, Bad News

Finally the worldwide drought of pop-punk is over. God knows it's literally been hours since our last fix of pseudo-snot-spitting, major-chord-playing, long-short-wearing, faux-Orange County poppery could be seen crudely smearing concealer over their acne on the cover of Kerrang. As we are all too aware, for every Blink 182 and Green Day there are 100,000 three-piece sound-a-likes, dying their hair and trying to look enthused across the world at any one moment. In fairness to Broadway Calls, this album is 100% what fans of the genre will be looking for. The songs are concise and peppered with singable choruses and the production is thick and lively. Recording with Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson must have been a thrill for these guys too and the glee certainly shines through on this capable affair, yet it's just so numbingly familiar and passé -- another drop in the ocean, albeit one worthy its intended audience's attention.