Hold Tight!

Blizzard Of '96

Written by: PP on 20/11/2012 00:15:24

If you like straight up pop punk with raw guitars and an ideology where lack of polish and a roughened production is considered a character building virtue as opposed to a vice, or if you're at all into the 'defend pop punk' mind set as championed by the likes of Man Overboard, then you need to take a listen to Hold Tight!'s new album "Blizzard Of '96". It's been a while since I've heard pop punk played with this much enthusiasm and unabashed love for the sugarcoated choruses and bright, summery guitars from the New Found Glory school of thought.

Every song is maddeningly catchy, high-spirited, and a fun listen. The latter mood is clearly rooted from the no-frills pop punk bands, but the approach has been radically expanded into traditional pop punk from the late 90s/early 200s era, as Hold Tight! aren't afraid to throw in some technical licks or gang shouts in as well for good measure. It's raw and rough around the edges, but that's what gives the record its identity and its fresh energy. That's also why it's catchy like the plague, whether in the form of high-pitched guitar melodies, the nasal vocals, or sublime choruses that demonstrate absolute faith on classic pop punk dynamics all the way through. That's also why it works: the band know exactly what kind of sound they want to achieve, a kind of a modernized, re-vitalized New Found Glory inspired version of pop punk. Even though it doesn't necessarily succeed in sounding original at all, it sounds good because it's not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Don't fix it if it ain't broken is the mindset here, and so the band take us through high energy songs like "Toad Worthy", slick riffs on "I Guess This Is Fucking Up", or the more emotionally charged melodies on "Sky Watching" in a varied approach that simultaneously keeps all its eggs in the same basket. But given that Hold Tight! aren't exactly exploring roads untraveled here, they triumph to the finish line without breaking any of their product in the process. Pop punk the way it was meant to be played.

8

Download: I Guess This Is Fucking Up, Sky Watching, Mother Leopard
For the fans of: New Found Glory, Spraynard, The Story So Far, City Lights, The Tired & True
Listen: Facebook

Release date 26.06.2012
Animal Style Records

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