Review Summary: PUP pop off
This Place Sucks Ass is exactly what you’d expect from
PUP in 2020: a frantic bottlerocket of a (pop) punk EP, bursting with nervous energy, stadium-sized refrains and a palpable frustration that it’s title not-so-subtly alludes to. Written and recorded (for the most part) during the
Morbid Stuff sessions, the bois’ latest effort finds a satisfying balance between the pastel pink pop tendencies of their 2019 LP and the snotty, punk grit of
The Dream is Over. We’re treated to an excellent cover of Grandaddy’s
A.M. 180 - transforming the original's anxiety-inducing aesthetic into an raucous, distorted slowburner - whilst EP highlights,
Anaphylaxis and
Nothing Changes, are full to the brim with the hooks and gleeful, eccentric character that put
PUP on the map. Bookends
Rot and
Edmonton take things completely off the rails, disheveled and angry as anything
PUP have ever done, barely held together by the jagged riffs and snide snarling from Steve Sladkowski and Stefan Babcock. Whilst nothing here really reaches the towering heights of the band’s recent LPs - not quite matching the fury of
The Dream is Over nor the unbelievable catchiness of
Morbid Stuff - you won’t really care when listening to
This Place Sucks Ass. The lack of restraint absent from their 2019 release still manages to elbow its way back into the melee, making for one of the year’s most satisfying punk EPs and well worth the time of those craving more of the same, reliable
PUP goodness.
