Review: Hit The Lights - Skip School, Start Fights

Posted on 15 July 2008 | No Comments

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Pop, Punk

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You know I love me some pop-punk but for some reason or another I really want to dislike all these nu-school seemingly wannabe “pop-punk” bands. I really do, but Lima, Ohio’s Hit The Lights. But Hit The Lights seems a bit different. On their new album Skip School, Start Fights they don’t pussyfoot around and try to be something they’re not, they just deliver the goods.

It’s surprising considering that when vocalist Colin Ross left the band last year, guitarist Nick Thompson took over vocal duties and has refined and improved the Hit The Lights’ sound even more. So despite the over-slick production, the catchy-as-fuck pop-punk these guys dish out just rings a little truer than your average TRL wannabes. Like the best of Cartel, All Time Low, The Starting Line, etc… guitars rip and churn while clear melodic vocals make it fucking impossible not to bob your head and crank this shit up loud. It’s not rocket science and isn’t complex. This is the musical equivalent of a Snickers; but sometimes a candy bar just tastes really really good.

Of course, like all the other current bands overpopulating this genre, the lyrics don’t give ya’ anything to write home about, and I generally like my pop punk a little grittier (Broadway Calls anyone?) plus it falls into many of the same genericisms that everything else that sounds like this does, but I haven’t heard an album more fun than this one all summer. Sure, we’re about a dozen years older than Hit The Lights’ target audience, but both Amy and I still like this stuff. I’d prefer a little more grit and “oomph” but for what it is (catchy nu-school pop-punk), Skip School, Start Fights is about as good as it gets.

MP3 | Hit The Lights – Stay Out Skip School, Start Fights
MP3 | Hit The Lights – Back Breaker Skip School, Start Fights