Album Review: Forever The Sickest Kids J.A.C.K

Pop punk is a tricky thing. There tends to be a very potent nostalgic value attached to the genre – even with those artists who sat at the forefront of pop punk, defined the genre and did it far better than the rest. For that very reason, the release of Texan pop-punkers Forever The Sickest Kids' third album sits on a slightly uncomfortable plane. The genre has just about run its course; the challenge for FTSK wasn't so much resurrecting it, but keeping it alive and fresh.

In a pleasant turn of events, FTSK have put more of an emphasis on the rockier aspect of their sound with J.A.C.K., which they show off at the get-go with the gritty guitar intro of Chin Up Kid. In an instant, the exciting change of pace sidles back into the band's bubblegum pop of yore with the introduction of a very perky, airy synth. These recurring intervals of blips and bits pop up throughout the album every so often to remind us that we're listening to FTSK and not Fall Out Boy – an influence whose sound they mimic to a tee, particularly with the lyrical witticisms and shared vocals atop claps in amongst bursts of noodly guitar parts heard in Count On Me (For Nothing) (complete with the new wave gospel edge that FOB sported on more than one occasion).

While they've certainly injected a little something to the pop punk genre with J.A.C.K. by throwing in a couple of their own curveballs, it isn't really enough to make the album all that memorable.