Summer Nights that last forever... 80's movies... Playing Computer Games for days straight and watching Star Trek....
The Ataris deal with it all. End is Forever is the Ataris' 3rd album, and sees the band reaching out for the emotional lyrics and catchy pop-punk riffs once more.
The opening Track, Giving Up On Love, is a great, fast paced opener, the lyrics screaming of dispear and despondence towards romance. The album then continues with this bittersweet and catchy theme into the second track Summer Wind Was Always Our Song. The Theme of heartache is dropped for the next track, IOU One Galaxy, which instead deals with a lighter side of love and romance. Bad Case of Broken Heart then goes back into the tried and tested theme. The next track is a real gem though, taking its title (Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start) from a cheat for the NES game Contra. The song describes playing computer games all day and skipping school to go to the arcades, just to pass the time. It also has a great reference to Karate Kid. Great reflective song, with so many memories of being a kid in it. The track Road Signs and Rock Songs describes how it feels to leave a girl behind to go on tour, and how much it tears a person apart, emotionally. If You Really Wanna Hear About it opens with a great riff on guitar, and the song deals with staying in the same place, and watching the world change around you. The next song is Fast Times at Drop Out High, an emotional song, brimming with memories and nostalgia from life. The song contains a spoken section at the end, making for a different and unusual break. Song for a Mix-Tape is a great anthem for those falling in love. the song opens with a great nod at the Descendents, with the song "Silly Girl" (I Don't Wanna Grow Up), playing distantly in the background. The band take the oppurtunity to give some credit to some of their favourite bands, such as the Descendents, Jaw Breaker, Built to Spill and Armchair Martain. The song then goes onto how the songs describe feelings for a girl, and how its easier to say it in song sometimes. You Need a Hug opens with a fantastic melodic bass chord intro, which sets the tone of the song beautifully. The song is a great bitter go at people who whine about the smallest things in life, and how they need to deal with it, and not take it out on others. How I Spent My Summer Vacation is another melancholy blend of love and loss, describing leaving town and meeting up with a girl, and waiting for everything to go wrong again. A complete break from the rest of the album, Teenage Riot is a great bouncy pop-punk anthem, with a great bass line and ctachy riff and sing along chorus. The lyrics talk about general teenage boredom, and going to gigs in basements and tiny crowded rooms. Song #13 is an agressive and dark song about bitter loss and leaving someone who isn't who you thought they were. The songs vocals are raw and agressive, hammering the emotion of the song home. The ending track, Hello and Goodbye is a great acoustic lovesong about losing someone and not being able to do anything to stop it. The slow pace and acoustic guitars bring the song a haunting quality, which reflects the sadness and dispear of the lyrics.
All in all, End is Forever is a great, summer-y Pop-Punk album, full of catchy riffs, emotional and angsty lyrics that speak to millions of teens. Chris Roe's vocals are pretty standard "American Pop-Punk" sounding, but they fit beautifual and emotional lyrics he writes so well. the Guitar work is catchy and fun to listen too, and compliments the tone of each song well. The bass playing compliments the guitar well, playing simple lines when nessecery and great fills and complex bouncy ska-like basslines when nessecery. I'm not much of a drummer, but the drum work is solid, with a great intro on Teenage Riot.
All in all, this is a great Pop-Punk album from a great Pop-Punk band.
