Review: Our Own Everest - Everything I Ever Wanted

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I’m just gonna go ahead and cop to the fact that, for all the fawning and handjob-giving over various hardcore bands that happens on this blog, I’m really just punk rock kid on the inside. Furthermore, my punk kid taste tends more to the poppy end of the spectrum. I like The Queers more than I like Converge. I like New Found Glory more than I like Integrity.

There, I said it. Commence booing.

Now, I’m not gonna sit here and make a serious argument that The Queers are BETTER than Converge. That would be a ridiculous comparison to make, and besides neither band is better. They’re both mind rapingly good in different ways. It’d be like comparing blow jobs to affordably priced air travel.

All of that nonsense brings me to this EP from Our Own Everest. These guys are a pop punk/easycore band from Montreal. Near as I can tell, they’re a fairly young band. I mean that in terms of their time as band and not their ages. Seems like this line up just coalesced in late 2010, meaning that they have plenty of time to grow and develop this sound.

But honestly, the band has put together a fairly polished batch of songs here. I wouldn’t accuse them of reinventing the wheel in 12 or so minutes that this thing lasts. But I don’t get a sense that that was ever the goal.

I want to give props, first and foremost, to the lack of death metal vocals on here. Christ, that shit bugs me. Our Own Everest skips that in favor of clean, but passionate enough vocals through out. There were occasional, production type effects of the voices once or twice that I didn’t care for. That’s not a deal breaker though.

There are moments on here that remind me of bands like This Time Next Year, it’s mostly in the guitars though. I’d be hard pressed to say who, exactly, these guys pulled their inspiration from. That probably says more about me than them though.

They do an admirable job of slipping some subtle hardcore elements in throughout. Thankfully, it comes off as an organic part of their style and not something grafted on after the fact. Weirdly, I felt like the breakdowns didn’t hit quite as hard as they were meant to. But again, this band is pretty new and details like that can get sorted out down the line.

Here’s the thing, I’ve heard bigger bands in this genre do far worse with far more resources available to them. If you’re looking for a band that does the genre justice, despite having some room for improvement, you should give these guys a day in court. They are pretty solid.

Buy For Three Lousy Bucks on Bandcamp.