No Lost Cause is back with P.S., their third ep filled with their blend of pop-punk and ska.
A few years ago, No Lost Cause was based in New Jersey, but as things change, so do band locations and now the band calls Florida home. The goal of the band is to take their blend of punk and ska and use it to speak of trust in God, providing hope and encouragement in hard times. For this ep, the band has enlisted both Indie Vision Music and Thumper Punk Records for the support.
To be honest, I really like how the songs like “Slow It Down” start, as its pure, fast, driving punk rock, but then the ska part comes in and all momentum gets lost and suddenly the song just sounds dated, like it should be something from back in the late 90’s when the Supertones, and FIF were hot. All that being said, the vocals are clear and fit well with the music, guitars and drums dominate the sound, but the bass doesn’t get lost in the mix, which is a good thing. At over four minutes long, I do think the song carried on a bit longer than needed, but then that was likely a function of the ska breaks. I will say that if there were horns, I might not have minded the ska parts as much but without them, the overall sound doesn’t work for me.
The second song, “This Fire” really bothered me for a while as the opening guitar riff is frighteningly close to one you hear on the “alternative” radio stations and it sent me on a search to find it. Turns out, I was thinking of the song “Headstrong” by Trapt. “The Fire” is a bit heavier in tone and feel than “Slow it Down”, but not too much of a stretch to make it stand out as not fitting. Similar to the first track, this track seems to be a bit longer than it needed to be.
“The Company We Keep” continues in the pop punk vein as does the closing demo track “R.I.P.” but on the heavier side, while “Hope for the Hopeless” and “Where I Stand” go full in on the 90’s ska. Oddly enough “Deceived” almost seems like its trying to be a thrash song, but something about the production/mixing makes it sound more like it is a ska band trying to play thrash and given the rest of the tracks on the album, it ends up just feeling out of place.
No Lost Cause has once again put out an ep filled with late 90’s pop punk and ska with a few surprises. Fans of those genres and those looking for a bit of nostalgia should check this out.
Rating: 6.5/10
Tracklist
- Slow it Down
- This Fire
- The Company We Keep
- Hope for the Hopeless
- Deceived
- Where I Stand
- R.I.P. (early demo)
Band Members
Rob Jensen – vocals, guitar, bass
Dango Cellan – drums
Record Label: Indie Vision Music/Thumper Punk Records, 2019
NLC on social media:Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp
Check out all the recent Tape, CD, and Digital releases from Indie Vision Music. Available in digital, from bandcamp here or on physical here
Lyric video for ‘This Fire‘
Video (audio) for ‘The Company We Keep’
