After The Anthem – Save Me Now
Don’t waste your time! Life’s for living and for getting as much of what you want, provided you don’t become one of those egomaniacs and start harming your fellow man in the process.
All of these things may sound obvious to you if you’re well rested and enjoying a cup of coffee while reading this. But it’s easy to forget this all. And there’s plenty of entertainment designed to prey on your occasional dissatisfaction and distrust.
If there’s one sound that’s unlikely to disappoint and that will always put in the heavy back work in lifting you out of the hole, it’s pop-punk music. Juvenile? Too innocent for this world? Yeah, exactly! After the Anthem, they are running after these precise qualities.
“I’d stop the world and me-ee-lt with you!” “Save Me Now” sounds like pop-punk meant to tell the world, and whoever’s caught your fancy, that these things will, against hope, be alright in the end. It’s optimistic pop music, really, and it’s made in Bulgaria, the country that, since last Saturday, is destined to be the Mecca of pop music for a while. Don’t waste your time on doom and gloom!
Fight Back Mountain – All the Money in the World
The original punk bands were alright. But let’s face it! Nearly everyone who has tried to follow in their footsteps, however, has disappointed us. And, what’s worse, they always knew that they were doing it. They always knew that they were doing it all for maximum profit, not to support some brave Revolution.
Johnny Rotten may have proclaimed a season of anarchy, but most of the punk-rockers who look like him are happy just to get hired by a big transcontinental power. Joe Strummer may have sung lullabies for people in third-world countries, but most of the pop-punks only write songs for people who can spend their time in shopping malls. Yeah, we’ve been lied to, but Fight Back Mountain know what we need.
What we require is some earnest rage. But why can’t punk-rockers be wise as well? “All the Money in the World,” for all the shouted vocals and the vitriol, is a love song. Sure, it’s a tune about making the best of love while you have it available. But the avalanche of rock n’ roll energy, overall, is here to remind us of the ultimate punk rock truth – there are far more important things in the world than money.
