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Pulley

No Change In The Weather

Written by: PP on 27/12/2016 22:32:01

Can't believe it's been twelve years since the last Pulley album. Once a staple of the golden 90s skate punk sound (often dubbed as 'melodicore'), they released a series of Fat Wreck/Epitaph classics between 1996 and 2004, before going into hiatus mode, save for a couple of EPs released in 2009 and 2011, respectively. "No Change In The Weather" is the sixth Pulley album overall, their first on NOFX guitarist El Hefe's new label Cyber Tracks, and one that stays true to their beloved late 90s sound. For those not around the punk rock circles back then, think along the lines of No Use For A Name, Belvedere, Satanic Surfers, Millencolin's old material, or No Fun At All to get the picture. In other words, gloriously tight and semi-aggressive punk rock that's massively catchy throughout with uplifting vocal hooks and a straight up attitude to melodic riffs throughout.

The fact is, it's quite unbelievable how fresh Pulley sound after such a long time away. Song after song is timeless skate punk that takes you straight back to the best melodies in the 90s, with many of them even surpassing the better Pulley songs back then. Take the ridiculously catchy mid-tempo banger "Different", for instance. A super simple song that relies merely on clean, high-octane guitars, memorable clean vocals, and the perfect amount of distortion NOFX style to keep things nice and punk rock. It just works and should make any 90s punk rocker feel right at home. Then we have hyper-nostalgia stuff like "Fixing The Drought", which has beautiful lyrics essentially dealing with how today's music scene has "too many bands, so many songs, it's noise pollution coming on", before benevolently offering a solution by "let's try to fix it one song at a time." The song's nostalgia theme, coupled with its signature style 90s-flavored tight skate punk sound and insanely catchy vocal melody essentially answers its own question and delivers exactly what promised: fixing the lack of great skate punk one song at a time.

And by god, that is exactly what Pulley do throughout the remainder of the record. Each song seemingly more catchy than the one before, the band use every single trick from the classic melodicore playbook, but they use their talent right and deliver absolutely brilliant skate punk in a manner better than any other release since NUFAN's swan song, "The Feel Good Record Of The Year" back in 2008. Perhaps Tony Sly's untimely passing inspired a return for Pulley, which is why the whole record feels like a tribute to the music that Sly dedicated his life to over the course of two decades. As the pinnacle on a great album, the band finishes the nostalgia trip in style, by offering a Pulley-ified version of NUFAN's classic "Black Box". Easily a candidate for the best punk album of 2016.

Download: Sometimes, No "I" In Team, Different, Fixing The Drought
For the fans of: No Use For A Name, No Fun At All, Belvedere, Satanic Surfers, Millencolin, Pennywise
Listen: Facebook

Release date 18.11.2016
Cyber Tracks