 
Off With Their Heads are a punk band from Minneapolis,
Minnesota who formed back in 2002 and over the
years the band has seen a huge amount of members
come and go which is due to their hectic touring
nature and also to help keep the band feeling
fresh, the band signed to Epitaph Records back
in 2010 and months later went on to release their
second studio album ‘In Desolation’
and now nearly 3 years on Off With Their Heads
are set to release their third studio album ‘Home’.
After listening to ‘Home’ a few times
over it is safe to say that it is crammed full
of the strongest material that Off With Their
Heads have ever created, as soon as the opening
track ‘Start Walking’ blasts in with
a short 1minute 47seconds burst of melodic punk
rock with singer/guitarist Ryan Young’s
gruff vocals taking centre stage and grabbing
your attention from the off you just know the
next 30minutes is going to be worth your time.
‘Shirts’ follows on with the melodic
nature with backing chats of “woaahh, woaahh”
before Ryan Young comes in with a quick fresh
blast of gruff vocals whilst also kicking out
some tasty guitar riffs, whilst the rest of the
band lay down some funky basslines and fast paced
drum beats.
‘Nightlife’ is the lead single to
be taken from the album and it is so easy to see
why as the song starts off in a slow paced radio
friendly way and within seconds the guitars are
charged up coming at you thick and fast, the basslines
stand out due to their strong nature and vocally
Ryan Young gives a performance which could arguable
be the vocal performance of his career and his
melodic sounding chant-a-long gruff vocals are
unlike any other and as soon as the track comes
to an end the temptation to hit the repeat button
becomes so strong.
‘Focus On Your Own Family’ is a song
about not doing what people tell you and about
focusing on yourself and your own family and don’t
be frightened of doing what you want to do, musically
the song is a fast burst of energy where once
again Ryan Young comes chanting through at what
feels like 100 miles per hour whilst the rest
of the band club together for backing chants of
“woahhh, woahhh”.
‘Don’t Make Me Go’ is a really
interesting song as Off With Their Heads slow
things down and go down the soppy ballad route
as the band sing about life as a touring road
with Ryan Young singing “Don’t make
me go home, i’m wanted there less than i’m
wanted here’, which shows his appreciation
of time in the band, on the road, playing live
shows and hanging out with his fans.
There is so much enjoyment to be had within the
songs of ‘home’ the majority of the
tracks are fast past melodic punk numbers but
there are a couple of toned down tracks which
come towards the later part of the album such
as the already mentioned ‘Don’t Make
Me Go’ and not to forget ‘Always Alone’
and the near full on instrumental ‘Stolen
Away’ which such emotional sounding vocals.
Overall Off With Their Heads have made the album
of their career with ‘Home’, lyrically
the album is very personal and is executed with
emotion, passion and full on energy and is the
kind of album that the listener will end up listening
to again and again
5/5
Review by Trigger
|
