Comet is a powerful album that rips the curtains off the walls with its crushing palm-muted Les Paul riffs and evokes internal sing-a-longs without even knowing all of its story-like lyrics. But this record also stops to catch its breath amongst the fury. The instrumentation on this release stands out both technically and audibly. Pete Steinkopf’s guitar tones are solid and heavy at times and shimmering and piercing, in a pleasant way, at others. The drums and bass carry the songs and remain connected with the guitar through the whole album.
The opening of the album grabs you and shakes all the change out of your pockets and with “Baptized” and then gently sets you on your couch with “Fast Times.” From here until “We Love Fun” lets you sit and soak up the emotional aspects that the Souls are well known for. With a song title like “We Love Fun” and lyrics like “We love fun / because being sad is really dumb,” it’s easy to forget that this is a band who has been around for a little over twenty years.
Punk Rock bands are not always known as being the most articulate when it comes to lyrical content, but The Bouncing Souls have been one of a handful of exceptions. Their songs are stories that resonate with their fans on deep personal levels. Comet is no exception in their discography.
At the end of the album the songs “Infidel”, “DFA”, and “Ship in a Bottle” are the stand out tracks that leave a lasting impression. “Ship in a Bottle” is the closing track and after one listen one can understand why. The acoustic guitar and vocal introduction carries the song the whole way through and you quickly find yourself bobbing your head in classic side-to-side Souls style.
You can stream Comet via AOL’s Spinner here
Blech. What’s an internal singalong? The instrumentation stands out audibly? It’s a record, how else would it stand out? You say the band is emotional but never say how or in what way. Why do the songs resonate on a deep personal level? Just saying it isnt enough. If you can’t articulately explain your thought then it doesn’t count as criticism. Good try, but no.