Review Summary: They like you better when you’re shoved along, they try to tell you just where you belong
The term "industry plant" is f**king stupid. It doesn't even have any goddamn meaning anymore, having been applied to everyone from Billie Eilish to Ice Spice to Olivia Rodrigo to Greta Van Fleet; at this rate, you can make a case for every artist ever to exist to be an industry plant. And yes, the term has been applied to
The Linda Lindas as well, given that two of the members are the daughters of ex-Reel Big Fish drummer and fairly prolific producer Carlos de la Garza. But it's a stupid debate that does nothing but detract from what should be discussed approximately 99.10% of the time: the music. And while
No Obligation isn't exactly going to set the world on fire, these alleged plants' second effort is still an unapologetically fun mash of pop-punk.
But is there anything
new? If you count a distinctly more hardcore influence as "new", then yes. Vocalist Bela Salazar admitted to listening to Pantera and Judas Priest during the album's sessions, and it really shows in tracks like the opening title track and "Resolution/Revolution". The irony is that they pull off the metal-tinged hardcore punk sound better than a lot of punk bands that have tried to do so, and also do Pantera better than Pantera themselves do it. In addition to their newfound affinity for the hardcore, they convince Weird Al (of all people) to drop in and play accordion on "Yo Me Estreso", "All In My Head" sees the band try out a more indie-pop approach sounding like it's more out of the playbook of Weezer, "Lose Yourself" is well fit for the arenas that the band have seen themselves playing in consistently now that they're opening for the likes of Paramore and Green Day, and songs like "Too Many Things" and "Once Upon A Time" are a return to the straight pop punk that they played on
Growing Up. Lyrically, it's a mish-mash of things such as not doing what people tell them to do ("No Obligation"), references to books ("All In My Head" was written from the POV of a character in a novel), and "making small dents in big problems" ("Resolution/Revolution"). "All In My Head" is definitely the lyrical highlight, with a banging chorus of "I like it better when it’s all in my head / The doctors know that I have money to spend / And no, it’s not you, it’s me I’ve been talking to"; it's not groundbreaking stuff, but considering the average age of the members is around 16 years old, it's not the worst thing that could be brought to the table.
Instrumentally, it's nothing to shout at despite the fact that the songwriting in and of itself is incredibly catchy, and that's where the band's strength really is. The mixing is done rather well, but the mastering engineer (Dave Collins) should probably be taken away from the mastering table for a while, because
holy god does this thing clip. It's especially noticeable in the opening track, which will likely cause you to go deaf or insane with the heavy amounts of clipping to the point where I actually had to check if Rick Rubin had anything to do with it (surprisingly given the quality of the master, he didn't!); but that's really the only massive glaring flaw with
No Obligation. It's just a half hour of catchy hardcore-influenced pop punk, and if that's what you're seeking, you'll likely love it.
