The Frantic
Audio & Murder
Sinister Muse
It’s true, I have a soft spot for melodic punk. It’s a genre that, if done well, never grows old for me. Last year I discovered Riverboat Gamblers (a band that very quickly found its way into my all time Top 5), this year the band I can’t get enough of is The Frantic.
They’re young (17-18 years old), they’re inspired, they’ve already played shows with my aforementioned Gamblers in addition to Bad Brains, Bad Religion, and Youth Brigade, and they were featured on the Hot Topic/Kevin Says Stage at Warped Tour. Of course, none of this means anything if the music doesn’t match the hype. Lucky for us, it does.
Audio & Murder, the Chicago band’s debut for Sinister Records, has all of the elements a great punk album calls for: the pogo tracks (“Big Poppa”), the mosh-pit-inducing songs (“Rock ‘n’ Roll Renegade”), and the sing-a-long anthems (“Audio & Murder”). In fact, the band goes one step ahead of themselves and has managed to craft a sensitive ballad, “Movin’ Along.” It takes most punk bands at least three albums before they’ll let their guard down and show they’ve got a heart.
There is not one song on this album that I skip when I’m listening to it (which has been daily since receiving it, by the way). The only mild criticism I can even scrape off the top of this fantastically fun release is the spoken bit in “Frantic Summer.” The song is amazing, but this small exchange (“What do you wanna do tonight?.. I don’t know, there’s nothing to do… there’s never anything to do… I’m so bored…I guess we could just go scope”) is unnecessary. Other than that, we’ve got a big big winner in The Frantic!
Sinister Muse: http://www.sinistermuse.com
