Album Review: Anarbor

If you feel like drugs and alcohol might be a little lacking in punk rock these days, Anarbor will fix that with their second record, ‘Burnout.’ If All Time Low were badasses, they would be Anarbor. The catchy, pop laden punk rock is as pretty as ever, but the vocal content shows these are the type of guys fathers fear their daughters will meet.

The opening track, save its title, 'Every High Has A Come Down', could fool you into thinking these guys are another sugary sweet pop rock band created to make teenage girls swoon. For the most part, this record does this a lot more than the group’s debut did, but every now and then a track like 'Whiskey In Hell' will dirty things up a little with gritty rock riffs and hopeless (get it?) lyrics.

The main issue however is that all of these songs feel fairly similar, possibly due to the driving drum beats that only really change up in brief moments of electronica, like the teenage anthem '18'. The band seems to be aiming for a radio market that probably aren’t interested in this genre at the moment. Songs like 'I Hate You So Much' have the well planned chorus lines necessary for mainstream appeal, as do the most of the tracks.

This is certainly the most polished the group have ever sounded, which works for their sound, especially on one of the record stand outs, 'Before The World Ends', a dark and serious romp with plenty of groove supplied by its bass lines and smooth clean guitars.

The deluxe edition will give you some acoustic versions of songs from the album, some of which better their originals, especially the opening track, which has its melodies amplified by the simple percussion and acoustic stabs.

Lyrically, Anarbor are bad boys, musically, they are poster boys, but at least an interesting cocktail is created when the two are combined. They also write some damn catchy melodies, which let’s be honest are fun.

1. Every High Has A Come Down

2. Damage I've Done

3. 18

4. Whiskey In Hell

5. Who Can Save Me Now?

6. I Hate You So Much

7. Take My Pain Away

8. It's A Fact

9. I Don't Love You Anymore

10. Freaks

11. Rock To My Roll

12. Before The World Ends