Handguns
Disenchanted

Only an American band can call themselves Handguns, the Americans are the only ones that obsessed with something as pointless as guns – at least that was what I was thinking when this album found its way into my mailbox. And, as I suspected, the band is from Baltimore. Disenchanted is their third album, the debut was released in 2012 and the band is said to have existed for seven turbulent years. This turbulence is in the members department and the band is said to have a list of ex-members that is longer than a child’s Christmas wish-list. Even so, the members’ names may change but the spirit of the band remain and with that their drive to make great music – at least according to the label who are selling us this album.

It is described as pop-punk and that wouldn’t be a too poor a description of what this album sounds like, it is poppy melodic punk rock with plenty of energy. The label thinks that it can be described as a mix between the speed of early Blink-182 and the modern sound of The Story So Far, I don’t know if that is a good description but that’s what they say. What I know that Handguns offer is simple songs, straight to the point with catchy choruses, melodic and modern sound, and a whole lot of energy. Straight to the point in two ways as well, both in terms of style but also the fact that the album is very short and offers very little in terms of empty space, but they do still offer a decent amount of variation during the album – for the genre that is.

I think that this is a very good album and if I am to complain about something it is the spoken-word parts between songs, they feel kind of pointless as they neither add anything nor ruin anything, they are just there and it is not possible to understand why they are there. Besides those things I think it is an excellent album, the catchiness and feel makes it a good album to play over and over, sure it isn’t exactly the most inventive of music so they may lose out a little there but it is enjoyable enough to stand on its own without reinventing the genre. I think they succeed very well in making catchy, energetic and positive punk rock music.

I tried to select a few favourites when I ran through the album just now but it isn’t that easy, all the songs are good and none of the songs really stands out from the others – I think it is a strong coherent album that is best to hear from that to finish. Maybe that the first track is somewhat better than the rest but it is too little in it to be sure, which is why I refrain from selecting a favourite – especially since it doesn’t require that much time to get through the album.  They  smack the nail on the head with a big hammer, I think that it is an album worth checking out – I think its great.

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