Review Summary: As expected, the people at Punk Goes release another hit-or-miss compilation filled with rushed covers of pop music from the last several months.
The concept of Punk Goes Pop has never been a difficult one: take a handful of “Punk” bands, and have them cover pop songs from the past year or so. This year, there was so much potential for some good cover songs; there has been some fairly decent radio pop dominating the charts lately. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the bands on this new compilation do not manage to craft a decent cover, and fill the audio space with constant breakdowns and screams. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but one would think that after all this time, some of the bands on the record would be able to do something a little more creative with the material they’re given.
The main reason these songs do not work well is because of dynamics. Many of these covers, such as the August Burns Red cover of “Wrecking Ball” or Oceans Ate Alaska’s cover of “Drunk in Love,” don’t even really try to build into the song. They give the illusion of a quiet buildup for the first several seconds, then jump right into the breakdowns and constant guitar chugging with little change occurring throughout the rest of the song. It seems like such a trivial complaint, but it’s one that heavily changes the quality of the song. It’s also worth noting that Ice T appears on the cover of “Turn Down for What” by Upon a Burning Body, which provides for a very cringe-worthy and laughable experience.
Regardless, there are still a handful of songs that are enjoyable throughout the record. Tyler Carter and Luke Holland do a good job at recreating “Ain’t it Fun” by Paramore, with Luke doing an incredible job at adding some flair on the drums. Knuckle Puck also do not disappoint with their cover of The 1975’s “Chocolate,” and State Champs deliver a solid, energetic performance of “Stay the Night.” Youth in Revolt do a decent job at covering “Royals,” but decide to throw in a quick breakdown in the latter half of the song that seems out of place.
In the end, Punk Goes Pop 6 is just like its predecessors: there are some good tracks scattered throughout the record, but after all is said and done, it’s a fairly poor album that can’t quite stand on its own two feet. A lot of the issues these albums face is probably due to the fact that the bands have to rush their work in order to get a song featured on the compilation. Maybe if the people behind Punk Goes can stop trying to crank out a new album as quickly as possible, we could end up with a decent compilation for once.
