For their newest offering the Old-timers have released a concept ep “born out of life’s very real struggles.”

Love, loss, passion, hurt, acceptance, rejection, dark nights, joyful days, and the wonder of reconciliation.  We’ve all had more than our fair share of heart break.  We’ve all been rejected one too many times and yet we’ve turned around and we ourselves have been those who rejected others, rejected God.”

The hope and prayer for the listener is that wounds would be exposed to the healing touch of God and the joy of reconciliation be experienced.

The Old-timers were born out of a friendship between Dave (vocals) and Don (guitars/bass) and spans a couple of continents, with Dave being originally from England and Don from South Africa.  Dave and his family moved to South Africa to be full-time missionaries in 2009 which put him in a much closer proximity at least to Don, but in reality, they’re still not very close geographically.  This collaboration has produced some great fast, gritty, hardcore/thrash-influenced punk rock with four of their own releases and contributions to a number of compilations.

As a concept, the ep follows the journey of one with a hole in their heart like a “gaping abyss” and a burden on their shoulders that is dragging them down and the eventual turning toward God for acceptance, love and peace.  This is something we all can relate to whether we want to admit it or not, it’s part of all of our journey.  Lyrically, the ep is filled with encouragement and understanding with a very strong dose of scripture worked in.

Musically, the Old-timers can be thought of as one of those bands that manage to squeeze a four minute song into less than two minutes.  Fast guitars and bass are the norm as this is punk rock but within that is some good variety in song structure and composition that keeps things from becoming overly repetitive.  “Hole in my Heart” has some great sections with vocals shouted over just bass and drums that highlight the cool bass lines allow the drums to show through.  Guitars throughout the ep are fast and driving and have a thrash feel to them and the shouted vocals must have required a good bit of coffee to keep pace with everything else going on.  I’m picturing singer Dave Emmerson doing sprints as training before entering the studio for the vocal sessions.

“The Joy of Reconciliation” changes things up a bit in the beginning of the song with an extended a capella section before the punk rock jumps in, lending some variety to the overall mix.  Elements like that and the two spoken word tracks, “Blessings out of Buffetings” and “Ambassadors”  which provide some good transitions for the overall concept, are what make this ep a unique listening experience.  While it would be great to have more music, especially in an ep, the Old-timers have been releasing music lately on fairly rapid schedule, so we likely won’t have to wait too long for more from them.  Personally, I’m starting to see benefits in this approach.  I see more bands releasing smaller projects more often rather than waiting for a full length to be completed.  I personally like this new music more often approach.  As for production and mixing, they are spot on for the genre.  All the instruments and vocals are clear and clean but not “too clean” as can happen with punk rock. Overall, this is a good addition to their catalog.  As with previous releases, the Old-timers continue to pull no punches in their fast, aggressive music and in their upfront, straight-ahead approach to ministry through this music.

Rating: 8/10

Written by John Jackson

Tracklist
1) Hole in My Heart
2) Blessings Out of Buffetings (spoken word)
3) Hope for the Rejected
4) Father God I Wonder
5) The Joy of Reconciliation [Listen]
6) Ambassadors (spoken word)

Band Members:
Dave Emmerson – Vocals
Donovan de Necker – Guitars
Bob “Masked Hippo” Magana – Drums

Record Label: Thumper Punk Records/Veritas Vinyl, July 2014

Studio Albums:
“Punk’s Not Dead, Nor Are We!” (2011) [review]
“Soli Deo Gloria (2012)” [review]
“Spiritus Sanctus” EP  (2013) [review]
‘For The Love of Hippos’ single (2014)
“Be Reconciled” EP (2014)

Weblinks: Facebook / Bandcamp / Twitter

Interview With ‘The Old-Timers’ [Feb. 2012]