'Last Stop Suburbia' is a catchy 'punk-with-a-poppy-tinge' affair by pop-punks, Allister. Ram-packed to the brim with energetic hooks and plenty a sing-a-long chorus, you just want to jump around to the poppy, upbeat melodies. Allister are a band you can love to hate and in some cases, hate to love. The guilty pleasure of many a 'true punk'. 'LSS' isn't exactly innotive. It's a 'punk-by-numbers' style album and yet manages to retain that punk rock feel to it without delving into the ranks of Simple Plan/Good Charlotte style 'punk-pop'. Maybe it's because Allister don't pretend to be innotive and overly experimental. They know what they are and they're sticking to the formula. Clocking in at 14 tracks, it's a long album for Allister but, sticking to the punky formula, the songs are ultra fast and are over before you can work out what the frontman is singing.
A Short Lowdown On A Few Songs...
'Somewhere On Fullerton', the single release of the album, is a catchy and energetic punky, poppy explosion of fast guitars and even faster singing. I first heard this song on the now-gone punk rock Music TV Channel, P-Rock, a good few years ago. This is the song that got me into Allister. 'Scratch' is the album opener and a speedy little ditty which you will be subconciously singing along to. 'Overrated', so freaking catchy. Some good drumming in the verses by drummmer, David, and generally a good song. 'Camouflage' is a great song. I love the part where,
"You lead a targeted youth, would only talk to certain few", is sung. The funny song on the album is the last song, 'None Of My Friends Are Punks', a humourous little ditty. Just reading the lyrics makes you chuckle. There's nothing that stands out that much on the album, as all songs stick to the same 'poppy punky' formula.
The lyrics are for the most part, your average punky lyrics about suburban life (Radio Player, Westbound) or about 'That Girl' (The One That Got Away, Matchsticks). The lyrics aren't exacty amazing but they are pretty good and the suburban feel definatly works well with the poppy-punk style to the album.
'Last Stop Suburbia' is your average run-of-the-mill pop-punk album but is pretty damn good in-spite of this. It's the soundtrack to suburbia and captures the life of Suburban teenager just, well, living life. 'LSS' definatly deserves a listen if you like pop-punk.
Additional Information
TIM Vocals/ Guitar
SCOTT Vocals/ Bass
CHRIS Vocals/ Guitar
DAVID Drums
And original member,
JOHN HAMADA Vocals/ Guitar
edit
After adding my review I noticed that a band named Union 13's album was put as one of the similar albums. I must have accidentally selected this as I have never listened to that album before. Sorry about that.
