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Part Time Killer

People, Religion, Death

Written by: PP on 11/05/2011 04:00:58

The sound of Part Time Killer from Lahti, Finland follows so closely the Swedish idolisation of California skate punk that initially I was certain they are located somewhere within the borders of our Northern neighbors. You know, stuff like Millencolin's modern material, Misconduct's skate punk worship and that sort of thing. Indeed, Part Time Killer open up their record with Lagwagon cover ("Heartbreaking Music") after a really cheesy intro about the troubling state of the world, and proceed thereafter to sound like Bad Religion, Pennywise, Lagwagon and others from that scene on respective tracks. Never all the bands at the same time, but always resembling one enough to draw an instant connecting line between the two bands.

That's essentially the problem throughout "People, Religion, Death". It sounds so much like their 90s colleagues but never anywhere nearly as good. Don't get me wrong, Part Time Killer write decent songs that will make you sing along to catchy choruses, chant along to their wooah-wooah gang vocals, and even hum the three-chord riffs, yet you're hard pressed to remember the songs just fifteen minutes afterwards. The problem is highlighted on songs like "15 Minutes Of Fame", which sounds a little too much like a faster version of Green Day's "Holiday" (the chord progression is essentially identical), or on "Teenage Riot" which borrows a number of riffs from Bad Religion. Especially the latter is a good, solid skate punk track, but it misses out on originality and the flair that made Bad Religion massive.

Another problem is the lack of standout tracks. "Weight Of The World" and "Saving The World" are also both good, but given there are 11 tracks, you just don't have enough to keep the listener on board from start to finish. Yes, it's fast, melodic punk, and yes it occasionally spills over to fast-paced rock (think Kill The Rooster locally), but unlike many might believe, you need more than that to be successful within the genre. In short, Part Time Killer are missing the final ingredient that would push them from being just decent into being really good. What that ingredient might be is something the band has to work on, but I'd start with adding some more character to the monotonous vocals.

Download: Teenage Riot, Weight Of The World, Saving The World
For the fans of: Misconduct, Kill The Rooster, Pennywise
Listen: Myspace

Release date 09.03.2011
Longplay Music / Pee Records