Band: Absolved
Release: This One Goes to Seven
Label: Thumper Punk Records
Release Date: October 2011
Reviewed By: BMer
Track Listing:
1. Relentless Leathernecks
2. I The Contrite
3. Turn Your Head and Snip
4. Halloween (Misfits Cover)
5. Turn Your Head and Cough
6. To Have And To Have Not (Billy Bragg Cover)
7. The Walking Dead
Another punk rock release for Thumper Punk Records, another trip back to the glory years of punk. Absolved releases a 7-song album titled This One Goes To Seven which brings somewhat of a mixed-bag of punk styles to the table.
This One Goes To Seven starts off on a high-note with the albums best track “Relentless Leathernecks”. The track is typical 4-chord punk song styled like the 90’s SoCal skate punk bands. The recording quality is obviously not the greatest but everything still comes across clear enough. The following track “I Contrite” is very quick and just when it seems that this track will turn into something great, it’s over. In fact, this whole album is over in ten minutes. In those ten minutes you get three original songs, some 3-second blip, 2 cover songs and 3:45 minutes of rambling nonsense.
The opening three tracks, the originals, are very good. They’re good enough to get people excited for a full-album release in 2012. After that though I have to be honest and admit that I felt very let down. The two cover songs are songs that have already been successfully covered by punk bands, “Halloween” a Misfits song made popular by AFI, and Billy Bragg’s “To Have And To Have Not” which was re-done by Lars Fredrickson (Rancid). Neither Absolved cover adds much to the original and I’m not even sure why they were included. That brings us to the closing track “The Walking Dead” which was so pointless I never even finished it.
OVERALL: Absolved appear to be able to write some good stuff as “Relentless Leathernecks” proves, and it’s good to see a current punk band stick with a style (skate punk). If anything these punk bands today are trying too hard to cover too many genres, stick to one sound and do it well. This One Goes to Seven isn’t really showcasing Absolved all that well, hopefully their next effort will be more focused.