[Feb. 21, 2012 – No Sleep Records // Find it at: Insound | iTunes]
______________________________________________________________
Let’s be honest, re-drawing sensible punk rock from the early 2000s’ is compromising. It’s a nostalgic piece of music that’s too strenuous to imitate but luckily for No Trigger, a band six years removed from their debut, they do it by clashing various breeds of sub-genres so some sort of hardcore fruit bears. Tycoon still follows in Canyoneer’s footsteps, it’s just the veterans make present day pop punk surrender and beat it to death with A Wilhelm Scream tempos and slivers of Dude Ranch that could obnoxiously be slapped next to Anti-Flag’s fed-up ferocity. It’s these moments – that chug, switch it up and keep strings twisting in between drum blows and Tom Rheault’s bouncy vocal dominance (“Maple Boy”, “Department Of The Interior”) – that spark up more of a history lesson, pushing past airy practices (“New Brains”) and lengthy hooks (“Skyscrapers”). Still, No Trigger have mended Tycoon into a sentimental compilation of sorts that counters when you’re not looking, letting well-crafted harmonies here and there (i.e. “Checkmate”) mend personal trials into riveting pieces of punk literature.
Download: “Checkmate”, “Permanent”
[Find updates on album reviews, music news and videos on Twitter]