Listening to Half Our of Power with all of its short comings is like reading the instruction manual for Sum 41. Sure, the Less Than Jake-like "Second Chance for Max Headroom" is the only time Sum 41 ventured into Ska Punk terretory, but the hit-or-miss rapping, layered vocal harmonies, over reliance on "borrowed" Metallica and Iron Maiden riffs and happy-go-lucky power chord choruses like "Summer" remisent of early Blink-182 are all present. It is at times a rough listen with songs often overstaying their welcome despite the EP's 26 minute runtime.
The best way to describe Half Our of Power is that it is an EP with a throw things at the wall and see what sticks approach. This is particularly present in songs like "Dave's Possessed Hair / It's What We're All About"
" with outdrawn instrumental sections and it's overal unstructured nature.
That said, the EP is fuming with underutilized potential from really solid drumming, catchy choruses and tasty guitar work, even if their inspirations are clear as day and their transitions can be quite janky. Then again, Sum 41 have never been known for their originality but rather just steal enough to not get caught, at least not red handed.
Fortunately for Sum 41 they would the lessons from Half Our of Power with stride in their future endavors and reeled themselves considerably inn, favoring song structure over musical showcase. Which is why Half Our of Power honestly seems more like a proof of concept than a well thought out EP. Sometimes less is indeed more, leave the kitchen sink at home.
