Abandoned By Bears

When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left EP

Written by: JWM on 02/03/2014 21:59:20

Coming out swinging straight out of their Gothenburg/Malmö basements, Swedish easycore upstarts Abandoned By Bears have released their second extended play “When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left”, building their sound on a well-crafted fusion of metalcore, pop punk and electro pop with positive and upbeat lyrics. Opening with the slow pace and wavy ‘bleep-bloop’ synths of introduction "Homegrown", a far different impression of what's in store is given, as you're unsure if it's going to be a Ke$ha or an Anamanaguchi song until its studio tricked out Drop B guitars crunch through those electronic influences like teeth through cake.

As "Bomberman vs. Mega Man" kicks starts, there is undeniable Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! influence: Those synthesizers, the production and even the broken English singing. Their production is clearly focused on having a crisp sound with clean guitars and auto-tuned vocals. “Hazard Pay” is a down right angry tune that is reminiscent of Chunk’s! “I Am Nothing Like You” and definitely rests on the more metalcore side of their sonic scale, while other songs like “Heads or Tails”, “Tiebreaker” and “Counting Consequences” pack bad-ass choruses and mean breakdowns following their typical screamed verse-clean chorus sound.

There is also a notable improvement since their last EP: While the “Bear-Sides EP” was more of a compilation of earlier singles, this is far more consistent and has the flow of a record. The overall impression of "When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left" is that Abandoned By Bears crafted something much more unique. But one issue I feel the EP suffers from is that there is not much variety, as a lot of songs follow the same formula.

While "When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left" is a record that will start to claw Abandoned By Bears out of the obscure, it's also a chance for the Swedish sextet to hone the sound that's been bubbling in the otherwise quiet pop-punk-meet-metalcore scene in Europe and make it their own. However, it isn’t perfect, for one thing their decisions on production and style aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and the major-scaled easycore style has never held much strength in pop-punk's current trends. But, although they may have not knocked the crown of Chunk's! head, they still join the small group of bands that show there is a bit more to the style.

7

Download: Bomberman vs. Mega Man; Heads or Tails; Hazard Pay
For The Fans Of: Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!; A Day To Remember; Rise On Everest; Kids Can't Fly
Listen: Abandoned By Bears's Facebook

Release Date 04.03.2013
Self-released


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