Review Summary: What a start to the year...
Jesse Michaels has returned! Classics of love (Name taken from the Common Rider song of the same name) have finaly released their first full lenght album and after having spend over a week with this album I safely declare that I cant see any better punk album being released this year: This album simply rips!
Backed up by the band Hard Girls Jesse and the gang storm through thirteen tracks with fury and passionate political lyrics and there is not a single weak moment on this record. The sound of the album is a combination between Operation ivy and Common Rider and eighties hardcore music which makes the album appeal to anybody who has been a fan of jesses previous work. Castle in the sky sound like a song of Energy while Bandstand and Light Rail wouldnt sound out of place on any Common Rider album.
Songs like Gun Show and Would be kings rival late eighties Bad Religion in both melody and their passionate delivery while Moving Pictures swings with a classical rock vibe all the way through it. I could go on about every song on this album but there really isnt any point in doing that. The album jumps between genres much like Energy does but with this newfound hardcore egde to his songwriting Jesse might have made his finest work yet! I urge everybody not to overlook this fantastic punk album! The album streams at their purevolume page and only two months into the year we might have an early album of the year contender and personally the finest punk album i have heard in years!
Go get it!
