Review Summary: I think it’s time for the “Punk Goes…” series to make like a shepherd and get the flock outta here.
As a fan of the “Punk Goes…” series, it pains me to say that these albums are dwindling with each new release. While the earlier versions of the series featured plenty of terrific tracks, it seems like the newer editions only have one or two great songs mixed in with filler. With
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3, the newest entry of the severely declining series, very little has changed: boasting a collection of both the decent and the despicable, which covers on
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3 should you check out, and which ones should you absolutely avoid?
For me, I find a successful cover to be something that is as equally enjoyable as the original track while the covering band puts their own unique spin on things. Following this criteria, however, you won’t find many things to get excited about on
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3. The World Alive’s “Heartless” cover does a good job of beefing up the lacklustre auto-tuned Kanye original, while Miss I May’s “Run This Town” successfully transforms the popular rap song into a satisfying metalcore number. The best cover of the album, though, belongs to We Came As Romans, as they knock it out of the park with their cover of “My Love”, which successfully combines the synth-soaked verses of the original with the powerful riffs and growls of the band in the choruses.
And with most entries into the “Punk Goes…” series,
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3 has plenty of average tracks. You may not prefer them to the original, but Breath Carolina’s “Down”, Mayday Parade’s “In My Head”, This Century’s “Paper Planes”, Sparks the Rescue’s “Need You Now” and The Ready Set’s “Airplanes” are all satisfactory covers and hold their own against the source material. But although these songs are enjoyable for a listen here and there, it’s frustrating to think that none of these bands really took it upon themselves to do anything different or creative with the songs, and the tracks just end up being a curiosity more than a real interesting effort.
But man, oh man, when it rains on
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3, it pours: for every half-decent song on
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3, there seems to be two no-name metalcore bands with some awful covers to take it’s place. Woe Is Me’s “Hot n’ Cold” is flat-out terrible, Artist vs. Poet sleepwalk through their “Bad Romance” cover, while both Asking Alexandra and Of Mice & Men’s covers are just too generic to get excited about. And it’s not just the heavy covers that are lacking, either: Cute Is What We Aim For don’t even seem like they’re trying on “Dead and Gone”, while Family Force 5 take the prize home for worst cover of the album with their lethargic, tone-deaf rendition of “Bulletproof”.
Sadly, I get less and less excited as the years go on with this gosh darn series. It’s painfully obvious that the “Punk Goes…” series is stuck in a really bad rut, and this is none more evident than with the newest addition of
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3. Boasting the fewest number of quality covers yet, I’d say its worth to check out
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 3 if you’re curious, and you might find a couple of favourite tracks among the wreckage, but as a whole, but I wouldn’t really give your hopes up.
