Review Summary: Sometimes while digging through the bunch you can find something that's really worth digging for. Pass The Poison is worth more than most of the bunch together.
Every time I discover a band like
Banner Pilot I feel frustrated. It pains me that a band with this amount of heart and talent is still lurking around the underground looking for a way into the light. However, that frustration and pain is quickly ended by the realization that I found them and I just enjoy. Yet, in the case of
Banner Pilot I just couldn’t let it pass. The amount of talent found in this band is such that I feel obligated to share my discovery.
In
Pass The Poison,
Banner Pilot is not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, yet the band has enough uniqueness and personality that you won’t feel you’re listening to a carbon copy of a prototypic punk band. Influenced by The Lawrence Arms, Jawbreaker, Dillinger Four, and early Alkaline Trio;
Banner Pilot created an album filled with rough-edge punk tunes that are filled with intensity, heartfelt lyrics, and amazingly catchy hooks. These elements are worked and combine in such a way that it brings to mind how few bands are still able to truly accomplished and exploit these types of characteristics, and do it in a way that is memorable to the listener.
Pass The Poison irradiates consistency and excitement from every single second it plays. The band knows how to create song structures and instrument lines that can keep the listener interested and hooked all through out the album; working speed and momentum just like the great bands do it. Nick’s harsh vocals fit perfectly with the melancholic yet hopeful atmosphere of the album and are complemented wonderfully by the backup vocals. Overall, the band show a high comfort with what they do, and a superb control of their sound.
Listening to
Pass The Poison can be a bitter-sweet experience. In one hand, the listener has a truly enjoyable, fun, and intense punk rock ride that has nothing to envy from other great punk albums. On the other hand, the album is too short, having only 8 songs and lasting 18 minutes. When it ends the listener can’t help feeling like a kid who could just take three spoonfuls of his favorite ice cream before it fell to the ground and he couldn’t eat anymore.
In the end, there is no way the listener can deny the amount of emotion and the amount of love these guys have in playing their music. Still taking their first steps,
Banner Pilot still has room for a little improvement and maturity, but I’m confident that these guys have all that it takes to turn into one of the best punk bands around. They might still be lurking in the dark, but they are definitely ready to hit the light.
Recommended Tracks:
Sunbelt Scars
River City Blackout
Portland Lights
