Descendents - 'Merican EP

Descendents – ‘Merican EP / 2004 Fat Wreck Chords / http://www.allcentral.com / http://www.fatwreck.com / 4 Tracks / Released 10 February 2004 / Reviewed 19 January 2004 / While I came into liking punk music years after three members of the Descendents were creating music as All, I still was able to appreciate the earlier Descendents albums as some of the most influential in the last twenty year, being a direct ancestor to pop-punk bands from Green Day to Blink 182 and even Good Charlotte. This album has a much harder edge to it than any of the previous albums, and really bodes well for the upcoming LP, Cool to be You. With a track that is on the other side of tracks as far as musical politics go, ‘Merican shows the tendency of “patriotic” individuals to get completely bent out of shape when anyone starts pointing out flaws with the country, however true they may be. The title track is definitely the high point of the track, with a killer bass line and a speed reminiscent of bands like Bad Religion.

However, “Nothing With You”, the only track that will be on the new album, is a jolt to the flaccid genre of pop-punk, mixing comedy and love-lorn lyrics into a solid brew. The track is really a big fuck-you to all of the new wave of emo-rock that just exudes corn-ball lyrics with overly serious tones – “Nothing With You” is a look back at when punk could be fun, and without all this baggage. “Here With Me” is no different, continuing with the intricate bass lines and a sense of longing that has only most decently been felt in Green Day’s “At the Library”. The Descendents, with “’Merican” have really opened the vault doors to the stuffiness that is pop punk and attacks certain other bands with salvos like: “Go ahead and say it, tell me I'm getting old / Tell me I'm a sellout, but it's you that's being sold”.

In what I am already deeming a top ten album of 2004 over 11 months before the end of the year, the Descendents are back in a big way! Clear off your shelves, take that Coheed disc out of its trust space on the CD player, and make sure to pick up the album. If a track like “It’s a Lie” is the bonus track, what does that say? That says that the Descendents, over twenty-five years after their first album, are ready to take back the throne of pop-punk.

Rating : 9.5/10

Top Tracks : 'Merican