While a sub genre, pop-punk itself can be a broad genre as so many bands take different approaches to it these days. Acts like Gatsby’s American Dream and more recently Matchbook Romance add their own unique twists to the genre. At times change is nice, but there days when one needs a nice upbeat and positive classic style pop punk album to blast on a sunny day. Well if that is what you are looking for, stop searching at
Amber Pacific . Now before you write them off as a typical band in this genre, take a closer peak inside; as their distinctive vocals, fresh drums, and nicely written lyrics all add up to a wonderful catchy sound. That along with variety and imagination put into the tracks keeps the album very listenable.
Fading Days shows a great deal of promise and potential for
Amber Pacific .
The well executed dual guitars are obvious from the intro of
Thoughts Before Me . Vocals shine with their unique tone throughout the song. The lyrics flow extremely well throughout the verse and chorus along with the octave and palm muted chords provided by the guitars. Bass is heard at almost the perfect level and the drums while fairly basic most of the time fit the song fantastically. Everything is put together nice, the music is solid, and the vocals fit the music perfectly. The song is quite a catchy track as it expresses a great deal of feelings and emotion while staying in its more basic style. Nothing ground breaking, just good, honest, catchy pop punk delivered very finely.
Always You is similar to the previous track but has enough differences to make it stand out. The tempo is a little slower but the song itself is still very upbeat. Some nicely done lead riffs come out in the verse and pre chorus adding for a nice sound. Later on there is a bit of an instrumental break which captures a great deal of emotion with the higher pitched riffs and solid rhythms in the back round. Vocals do not take the back seat in this song by any means as they continue to be a highlight with their smooth tone and delivery throughout the song. Once again a very memorable song overall is found.
This is goodbye
'Cause we're growing older
This is forever in the words you never said
This is goodnight
'Cause we're getting colder
This is the last time I'll kiss your lips again
An extremely catchy chorus is found as the tempo slows down once more for
The Last Time . The second part of the intro and some of the verses are the only mellow parts found in this song. The vocals show their lower range matching up with the clean guitar in the intro. During the verse the bass comes out quite powerful which completes the perfect rhythm section for the vocals to sing over. While the verse at times is a bit softer, the chorus is once again upbeat and catchy. The bridge is on the softer side with clean guitar and vocals, adding a nice build up for the final chorus. During the final chorus, backing vocals make a great appearance adding for a strong finale. The shortest song on the EP is
Letters of Regrets , which is not a bad thing since this track does not seem to have the power found in the other tracks. Vocal wise it is a tad under par and at times the instruments sound very sloppy. Not a whole lot of flow is established and as a result everything suffers. With no solid rhythm to build upon, everything crumbles. The final song
Here We Stand opens with an acoustic intro and vocals. If one is waiting for the song to get heavy, one will be surprised to know that the entire song stays acoustic. Amber Pacific shows their variety and capability to change their sound as the song is extremely solid. Vocals really shine throughout the song and some terrific backing vocals are provided as well. For a final song on the EP this is a great choice, as it is once again a very emotional sounding song that really leaves a good impression on listeners with its quality and power.
With
Fading Days Amber Pacific was able to get a great start and show their potential. Their distinctive vocals, solid song writing, and catchy sound is shown throughout their EP. The music itself has a good deal of variety while staying true to the band’s roots. Also, the band seems to know each others capabilities and attributes, as they never try to do something out of their boundaries. The members compliment each other in superb fashion throughout the EP and in turn produce great songs as a whole. Look for Amber Pacific to continually progress in the future.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
