Album Reviews

Next to being a critically acclaimed Indian coming out drama, Evening Shadows is also something of a supergroup out of Wilmington, NC. To avoid any and all confusion that might arise, it’s the latter that has released an all-round awesome album chock-full of snotty pop-punk songs, out now on Eccentric Pop Records.

Featuring Valient Thorr’s Tyler Wolf on bass, Strike Anywhere’s Matt Smith and Toke’s Jason “Bronco” Pierce on guitar and vocals, ASG‘s Scott Key on drums, and White Tiger & the Bed of Roses’s Matt Hearn on vocals, you might be led to believe there will be plenty of shredding and solos being played at breakneck speeds. But if you have already heard one of the previously released singles, ‘Karma Snake’ and ‘Psycho Chaperone,’ you know that’s not the case. Instead, the ten songs that make up the band’s self-titled debut are more focused on buzzsaw guitars, catchy melodies and huge hooks. It’s a sound that sees them landing somewhere between the Marked Men and Ramones, only to then mix in some rock ‘n roll swagger to end up with a sound all their own.

It’s especially on the album’s first half that the band impresses with songs like the above-mentioned singles and ‘Dick Around’. But with songs like the one-two punch of ‘Break Up’ and ‘Handsome Criminal’, they keep things moving right up until closing track ‘Rules,’ where they express their disdain of pesky rules.