Album Reviews

The idea of a split LP is one I haven’t come across in quite some time but count on Nightmares For A Week and Banquets to keep the tradition alive with a little help from Black Numbers.

First up is Nightmares For A Week who probably grew up listening to the Get Up Kids and decided to adopt their sound (especially when it comes to the vocals) and then proceeded by mixing in some of the Gaslight Anthem’s blue-collar influences along with a bit of folk and alt-country. The result are five tracks that are pure ear-candy with opener “Canadian Tuxedo” and “Bleached Blonde” as my personal favorites. Personally, I would have changed the tracklisting around a little because there are one or two unexpected shifts in energy between songs that result in a loss of momentum. All in all a very solid first half that ends with a nice acoustic instrumental.

Banquets is up next and don’t waste any time. They get right into it with the fast-paced “Two Feet” and then proceed to bang out four more pop-punk tracks that reminded me why I fell in love with bands like Polar Bear Club, Hot Rod Circuit and Hot Water Music in the first place. “The Engineer” is a short fast-paced one that is high on angst, something that can be heard in the last three tracks as well. If these five songs are any indication, these guys are definitely going places.

While both bands on this split have a sound of their own, there are enough similarities to nicely complement one another, resulting in one damn fine split album.