Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

The Marked Men - Fix My Brain

Ah, yet another young pop-punk that was taken from us too soon. From what the internet tells me, a member of the band moved to Japan, effectively dissolving the band right before the release of their third and final album, Ghosts. This, then, is their second and penultimate album, and their best.

The band here tears through thirteen songs with a mix of pop-punk speed and garage rock style. The rhythms bounce around in a way that hearkens to the same classic pop the informed the music of the Ramones, the Queers, MTX, etc. etc. So it’s a classic form of the genre, but with perhaps even more reverence for the material of yore than even Joe Queer could muster.

So if you like the ’60s rock sound, you’ll find something to like here. Songs like “Sophisticate,” “Sully My Name,” and “Going Crazy” clearly evoke that spirit, though the tempos are often sped up. While this isn’t lightspeed punk rock, no one in Liverpool was playing this fast.

Of course, some songs are faster than others; “Sully My Name,” a midtempo rocker by any other standards, sounds downright lethargic when compared to the circle pit-worthy title track’s frantic action. Shoutalong choruses over speeding guitars and simple yet effective drumming makes for a surefire hit at the pop-punk show, and these guys know it.

Not to  belabor the point, this album is great. It’s catchy from the first song to the last, and all the 28 minutes in between will get stuck in your head. There’s been a lot of good pop-punk out since the dawn of the 21st century, and these guys were definitely part of it. You owe it to yourself to check them out.

Tags: the marked men