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Review Summary: Pop Punk Is Not Dead. Lately it seems that the pop-punk genre is getting a bad name. Bands with members sporting "emover" haircuts and v-necks seem to be taking over the scene. Fans of the genre were beginning to get discouraged that it was heading into a downward spiral of overproduced songs, lyrics about heartbreak and the lack of fun that pop-punk is known for. Thanks to Living With Lions however, we still have some hope.
The band formed just for the fun of it, they moved into a house that became so famous for parties and a good time that it was coined Dude Manor. The guys jammed in the basement and before long they had enough songs so they decided to call themselves Living With Lions and make it official. After touring Canada and the American west coast alongside fellow Vancouver-ites Daggermouth, as well as releasing an EP that shares the same name of the band's birth place, the quintet's debut full length Make Your Mark was finally released this past summer.
"She's A Hack" starts the record off with crunchy guitars and solid drumming before vocalist Matt Postal's overly gruff voice kicks in, proving to be a great opener and perfect for the pit. The third track, "A Bottle of Charades," is probably the album's gem though. One of my biggest problems with pop punk is that it's often too over-produced, but that isn't the case with any of the tunes off Make Your Mark. "A Bottle of Charades" is raw, but it never loses its pop sensibilities, plus the chorus is so infectious you'll be humming it for days on end. "My Dilemma" starts off as a fist-pumping track, but near the end, vocal harmonies and the addition of a piano slow it down just a tad, but it still never loses its frenzied energy. The album finishes off with a similar track titled "Dude Manor" and ends with a short and simple instrumental track simply called "Outro", proving the band can finish off an album just as well as they can kick one off.
Living With Lions aren't rewriting the genre, but their take on it is a lot more refreshing that a bunch of the bands you'll see labeled as pop punk today. Trust me, with just one listen you'll realize pop punk isn't in as much of a downward spiral as some might like to believe. You just have to look a little harder to find the good stuff.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Review sucks.
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try to stray away from the generalizing intros... they're pretty trite and, in this case I'd say, inaccurate.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Fair enough.
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yeah you do a good job at describing it mostly, but it's a little weaker when it seems like you're often comparing the band to pop-punk in general (frankly, I don't really know where you're coming from with 'pop-punk' I mean there's many types besides the mainstream stuff), and it just obscures, for me at least, how much I can trust the reviewer's judgement of the band.
I might be off here, but I'm assuming this is up that whole Four Year Strong, Set Your Goals alley (uuugghhhhh) in which case I'm not interested at all, but it helps to know where the reviewer is coming from and those broad generalizations don't help.
but yeah, like I said, mostly good review, nice job, I'm assuming others on the site'll like this
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
No way. Did you just give me a pos?? And you said something positive about it too! =_)
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
And it's not really similar to Four Year Strong at all. (Not gonna lie, I really like their new album, never liked Set Your Goals though) I would place it more with Daggermouth and No Trigger (see rec by reviewer).
Worth a listen I think.
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awesome live too
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I'm not a huge fan of pop punk (NFG is about all i can get into) but they were really good live and i think they are better than their current bigger names in the genre that ive heard (mainly Four Year Strong and Polar Bear Club)
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really good pop-punk:
Saves the Day - Stay What You Are
Say Anything - ...Is A Real Boy
The Menzingers - Chamberlain Waits
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Park - It Won't Snow Where You're Going
NOFX - Punk in Drublic
Northstar - Pollyanna
The Gaslight Anthem - Sink or Swim
Green Day - Dookie
Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
Bad Astronaut - Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem
The Early November - The Room's Too Cold
Descendents - Milo Goes to College
The Get Up Kids - 4 Min Mile
Hey Mercedes - Everynight Fire Works
I have that list copy/pasted for times when users seem to forget that pop-punk exists outside New Found Gory and Four Year Strong and sound-alikes and it's actually a pretty deep, viable genre : /
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I still love me some New Found Glory.
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not my point at all but whatever
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Band and album rule.
Eric this is more along the lines of something you would like, I think. It's not the breakdown-centric pop punk/hardcore/metalcore hybrids. I'd say give it a listen.
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I thought you were leaving
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i am not saying i dont like pop punk, bc descendents and nofx aren't really what i would discern as "pop" punk, as far as your list is concerned. and im not saying there isnt good pop punk, it just doesn't float my boat is all.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
would i like this?
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Despite his comparison to Daggermouth, I'm pretty sure this will be right up your alley, Dante.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Everyone likes Living With Lions.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Bottle Of Charanade is one of the best punk songs ever.
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Pretty much
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Stoked for the new album. Stu sounded great on the song they posted.
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