BOXER
Undertow
“Been digging this grave for 20 years now…”
I’m a sucker for melodic hardcore records. Always have been,
can’t imagine that’ll change soon. And frankly, if you’re like me, this is not
a bad time to be a fan of the genre. Bands like Title Fight, Such Gold &
their ilk have taken up the mantle admirably. The last few years have been an
embarrassment of riches for dudes like me who like their punk records fast and
loose and catchy and featuring vocals delivered with reckless abandon.
If I have one problem with all this, it’s separating the
wheat from the chaff. There’s just so much of this stuff out there right now
that it gets tough to zero in on what’s special and what can be skipped.
BOXER, representing Richmond, VA, have an EP that displays
the potential to put them squarely in the first category. While there is
definitely room to grow here, when they connect, they hit hard.
The opening track, Anagram, balances the balls out, dual
vocal, speediness of the first Title Fight records with what I’ve always
described as “the slow, pretty parts.” This is definitely the choice cut here,
though I would like to give a shout out to the speed and brevity of 20/20.
That’s good shit, too.
This same momentum is maintained throughout the remaining
songs here. The whole thing wraps itself up in about 10 minutes with my second
favorite song on this thing, Medicine Cabinet.
Overall, BOXER have delivered a solid EP. The best thing
about this is the fact that they can only go up from here. There aren’t a ton
of things that I like more than a first release that shows potential.
This is a band that I will be looking forward to hearing
more from.
Thumbs Up.
No comments:
Post a Comment