Rockfreaks.net

Lipona

Pigeonholed EP

Written by: PP on 25/03/2009 14:22:50

"Pigeonholed" EP sees Tallahassee, Florida-based Lipona continue exactly where they left off with their debut full length album "Atlas" last year, playing melodic punk rock rooted in post-hardcore with energetic dynamics and catchy melodies. Since their debut saw lots of parallels being drawn between them and the post-hardcore genre in the online media, the title is probably their way of expressing dissatisfaction over being lumped together in a genre with wrist-slitting emo/screamo bands, which is not something to be proud of if you belong to the punk rock scene.

In all seriousness though, the comparison is once again completely justified. "Beginning The Dynamite Era", for instance, begins with an intro guitar sound that could've been a part of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus's arsenal on "Don't You Fake It". I know I said this in the review of "Atlas" too, but I half-expected the "GAARGHH" opening scream of "In Fate's Hands" (the intros sound incredibly similar, check it out) before vocalist Velez launched into his first melodic lines of the EP. At the same time, however, Lipona has become much faster and a tad bit more technical from their debut, swaying them just slightly more away from the post-hardcore sound. They continue to sound like a cleaner, more melodic version of Daggermouth on tracks like the EP highlight "Tragedy Of The Commons", but elsewhere, such as on "Hawks", the scaling post-hardcore guitars return during verses, even if speed overall is kept at melodic punk rock levels throughout. If it was possible to argue Lipona to be 50% Daggermouth and 50% Taking Back Sunday on "Atlas", then on "Pigeonholed" it'd be more like 50% Daggermouth and 50% Lipona - the Taking Back Sunday references have disappeared in favour of a more identifiable sound of their own.

While I criticized "Atlas" for its lack of longevity, "Pigeonholed" has certainly improved on that department. Now almost all songs have a memorable lyric or vocal melody as opposed to just a couple on "Atlas": the "we WON'T forget you" repetitions and the "time and time again we're guilty by association" on "Hawks", the opening blast "It's a culture-bound phenomena" on "Tragedy Of The Commons", and many other moments have firmly glued themselves into my mind over the course of listening to this record. Add in that the band have even tigher instrumentation than before, and it's easy to conclude "Pigeonholed" to be an improvement over the already decent "Atlas". How are these guys still not on a label?

Download: The Tragedy Of The Commons
For the fans of: Daggermouth, old The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Listen: Myspace

Release date 10.03.2009
UNSIGNED BAND