Opener Cloud Sick kicks in with a sick pop punk riff. Straight off the bat you can feel that this is a track you need to hear live to appreciate fully – but sticking it on blast and dancing around the room to it would work just as well and is very cathartic.
Worry Seed brings the most relatable track to me personally. It’s angsty and very noughties sounding. The tone of the music shifts suddenly towards the end – with a brief pause making you think the song ends abruptly but then you’re hit with a more anthemic ending.
When The Grass Isn’t Greener begins, I’m momentarily taken back to the early Busted ballads on their self-titled record with the melodic intro and this continues during the first verse with the vocal style and the rhythm heavy instrumentation. It stands out as my favourite of the album purely for the nostalgic vibes.
Moving on down the record we have the upbeat introduction to recent single Ocular Pat Down which is likely to make you sit up and take notice if you’ve had the record on in the background.
Second Wind marks the halfway point and sees a big change in the style of the record with a melodic introduction not out of place on a Lights album before kicking back into the Free Throw style.
Towards the end of the record we have Ghost In The Routine which comes in close to my favourite on the record. Just go and listen to it because whatever I write won’t be able to do this justice.
Overall the record is a strong showcase of some top quality pop punk musicianship. The drums are consistent throughout, some sexy riffs are scattered across the record – some where expected and some nice surprises.
Think what Neck Deep try to do and you have what Free Throw are doing on their record. Usually when a pop punk band gets to their fourth record, I find that it’s usually very repetitive and the songs for each album could slot in on any of their other records, but there is enough variety here to make Free Throw stand out and stay on my playlist. As someone who has a hit and miss relationship with the genre, I’ve been converted to a fan.