Review Summary: Waste of Mind isn't a bad waste of time
Zebrahead has always been the odd-man out in pop punk groups, hell even most punk bands! The group’s guitarist/vocalist Justin sounds a lot like the Offspring’s Dexter, while the group’s second vocalist Ali raps with a lot of speed, style, and clarity. The band’s sound is equally composed of pop punk, rap, and funk. There’s a strong Primus influence on a lot of the songs with the bass easily heard, and some of the bass riffs wouldn’t be too hard to imagine on a Les Claypool album. There’s also a light ska/reggae influence on some songs.
I must confess I didn’t really like a lot of these songs on the first listen, but then I found myself loving it on my second listen. The first song “Check” is defiantly fast, and takes up a Beastie Boys influence. It’s one of the most enjoyable songs on the entire album. I must admit this song was one of the many off this album stuck in my head, after only 1 listen. “Get Back” was one of the ones I didn’t really like at all on my first listen, but then I found myself singing the chorus later. This song features a nice balance of Ali, and Justin’s vocals, you get just enough rap as you get pop punk. “The Real Me” is a straight up alternative rock song with some ska influences evident. It sounds a lot like an Offspring’s song to be quite honest. “Someday“ is also another song that I liked on my first listen, it also shares an equal bit of rapcore with pop punk and therefore is one of the album upsides. “Waste of Mind“ funk is nice and evident on this track, which is nicely complimented by Ali‘s rapping. This song is an oddity cause it‘s the chorus not the verses that bog this song down. Still nice listen, the reggae-ish guitar solo in the end is a good listen. “Feel This Way” actually has a nice chorus, but doesn’t have enough of really anything to keep my interest. “Walk Away” almost directly borrows it’s structure from the album opener Check with a different chorus, it’s an okay song, but simply feels like a retread, a retread that lacks the energy of the first song. “Big Shot” is kind of redundant cause the song implies that people lose themselves when they get famous *cough, cough*. It’s also one of the more balanced songs on this album, but even throws in some Primus funk right in the middle. A catchy tune, and an enjoyable tune. “Swing” is one of the few funk-ish based songs with a nice catchy chorus. “Jag Off” is not pop punk, just a straight-up punk rock song it is topped off with a ska based riff. Overall this song doesn’t make an attempt to be near as catchy as the other songs, and falls flat after the first listen. “Time” is a combination of Check and Get Back. However it is the fastest, heaviest, and one of the most energetic listens on the album. “Move On” seems almost like a song that seems to be lifted from Sublime, it’s defiantly upbeat, and it’ll get you to the next song. However it tries so hard to be catchy, but fails. “Fly Daze” features a small skit by the band, and almost tries it hand at Rick Astley. It ends up being a pale listen after “this is Ron Jeremy”. I was expecting a really bad song with the name of “Bootylicious Vinyl”, but is ridiculously catchy. Seriously, it’s that damn catchy! After 1 listen this’ll be stuck in your head for days.
Even though I appreciate the original approach to the genre, and It’s certainly something you can enjoy listening to. There’s just not much a difference between the songs to make this an album to be remembered for. If you’ve come for fun, catchy, energetic songs, you’ll get exactly what you ordered.
Pros-
Almost every song is incredibly catchy
Fast, & clear rapping with lots of style
Cons-
A lot of the songs sound so similar
Recommended tracks-
Check
Get Back
The Real Me
Bootylicious Vinyl
Songs to skip-
Walk Away
Move On
Fly Daze
