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Pennywise

All Or Nothing

Written by: PP on 29/05/2012 03:06:36

Unless you've been living under a rock you must be aware of the drama that lead into the split between one of the most iconic punk rock singers to date, Jim Lindberg, and his band Pennywise three years ago, in which case you can use the search function to enlighten yourself. For the up-to-date readers, lets cut to the chase and answer the question that's on everyone's lips by now: is Pennywise any good without Lindberg, and perhaps more importantly, how does their new vocalist Zoli Teglas fare as a Jim replacement?

Because let's be honest here for a second. No long-term Pennywise fan will ever be able to look at "All Or Nothing" as anything else than a Jim vs Zoli popularity contest given that it's their first studio output with him since the split. It's a good thing then that Zoli is probably the closest-sounding person on this planet to Jim's unique voice, and is able to pick up the mic and sing in a reasonably similar tone, political flavor, and rhythm in order to not throw off the band's old school fan base too much.

But is the fact that he has abandoned his higher pitch style from Ignite to sound more like Jim (and subsequently a Pennywise singer) a good thing? That depends on the song. The title track is great, offering a classic Pennywise sound with tight skate punk guitars, and an anthemic, powerful chorus that's driven by the vocals rather than the guitars. To the untrained ear you might not notice any difference to the band's previous material, and that's probably a good thing considering they are a punk band after all, and change is a curse in this genre for a reason.

But does anybody else get the feeling that large sections of the album sound identical to "Americana"-era Offspring? Once I noticed the obvious correlation between them and "Stand Strong" or "Let Us Hear Your Voice", I'm having some real difficulty in identifying the album as a Pennywise release. Then you have "Revolution", which channels the aforementioned album during all its verses thanks to Zoli sounding exactly like Dexter Holland in his old days, whereas the chorus is almost identical to Authority Zero's classic track "Revolution". Yes, Pennywise were never particularly original (they didn't need to be as they were one of the pioneering skate punk bands), but these tracks should leave fans scratching their head, because the always-original guitars by Fletcher are pretty much the only thing that keep me from accusing the band from outright theft.

That being said, you can't argue against the basic fact that Pennywise hasn't sounded this energetic in a long while now. I did enjoy "Reason To Believe" four years ago and thought it was their best album since "Land Of The Free" in 2001, but it's true that "All Or Nothing" feels like Pennywise have re-vitalized themselves with every band member sounding fresher and more into being in the band than at any point since that seminal 2001 record. So I guess even as a Zoli skeptic I'm forced into a corner where I'll have to stand stubbornly until I finally admit that "All Or Nothing" is a pretty good Pennywise album, with or without Jim's involvement. Does it contest their best albums? Not at all, but at least it's much better than, say, "The Fuse" or "From The Ashes".

Download: All Or Nothing, Revolution, We Have It All
For the fans of: Ignite, Bad Religion, Wiseheimer, The Black Pacific, The Offspring
Listen: Facebook

Release date 01.05.2012
Epitaph