Review Summary: Hi-Five Soup! is The Aquabats first release since 2005’s Charge!! and while it may not have the biggest sense of maturity, it has the biggest heart.
Five years is a long time to go between releasing a new album for a still active band. So, you ask; have The Aquabats been working hard over the half decade and is Hi-Five Soup! worth the wait?
In short: yes, yes it has.
The music itself is bound to make you feel like a kid again, with it’s cheerful sound and simplistic lyrical themes. The direct influence for this would be caused by MC Bat Commander’s own television show for kids; ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ which, while not a bad thing, does eliminate the small amount of maturity they had to begin with. Songs such as ‘Radio Down!’ and ‘All My Money!’ hold very little meaning whatsoever, whereas others like ‘The Legend Is True!’ and ‘Food Fight On The Moon!’ instigate about as much meaning as the title suggests. The first lines of album opener ‘The Shark Fighter!’ doesn’t prove itself in terms of lyrical innovation:
“I’m, a Shark Fighter, I Fight Sharks. I fight them in the water, cause that’s where they are.”
However, this is all part of The Aquabats charm and we wouldn’t expect anything more from a bunch grown men dressed as superheroes. It’s also more of a mixed bag than anything, as the previous songs mentioned are some of the album’s top tracks and the shallow lyrics don’t really affect the songs impact overall. ‘Lucky Dragon Lady!’ is arguably my favourite track from the album, despite not knowing what on earth is going on, lyrically. It would seem juvenile coming from anyone else, but in the case for The Aquabats, they’re right on the mark.
Not all is right in Bat land however, as some of the lesser tracks tend to bring the album down a little. For example, the auto-tune section in ‘B.F.F.!’, (while unexplored territory for The Aquabats), heavily overstays its welcome whereas the overzealous nature of ‘Poppin’ A Wheelie!’ tends to become repetitive and stale after a while. The prominent Ska sound which The Aquabats have become well known for is mysteriously absent, which is also quite a large blemish on a colourful record.
The negatives shouldn’t outweigh the positives though, as Hi-Five Soup! is an enjoyable album overall and an excellent edition to an already impressive discography. The aforementioned lack of Ska sequences and the even more childish nature definitely weigh it down quite a bit as well as it straying it from a more classic Aquabat sound, however Hi-Five Soup! is still an album worthy to the ears of any Aquacadet.
