The Blackout - The Best In Town

The Best In Town is the second album from Welsh six-piece The Blackout. Signed to the now legendary Epitaph Records, this album is a big step forward for the band as much as a clear attempt at making a particularly bold statement. Shut The Fuck Uppercut opens proceedings with a rapid blast of textbook modern-day hardcore, complete with gargantuan choruses and screams aplenty - undeniably perfect fuel for the fire which apparently rages on in many a teen today. From here on out, the band proceed to demonstrate all possible elements of the modern punk/hardcore/'emo' landscape, from headbanging heaviness (The Fire) to Fall Out Boy-style loved-up cheesiness (Top Of The World) which is as tiring and so blatantly overdone as it is confusingly popular. However, whatever it is about this style of music that draws in so many fans worldwide, The Blackout most definitely have it by the balls.