Much The Same

Anyone who knows my musical likes and dislikes, or has read this blog much at all knows that i love 90's skatepunk, i never really got in touch with the roots of this genre and it was only until bands like Lagwagon, Millencolin, Face to Face , NOFX, and No Use For a Name started playing a brand of skate punk more melodic than the genres founders that i got into it. I guess that's when it became more popular as well, regardless there's something to be said for music that can hearken you back to a time when you were just beginning to grasp the influence of music on the world and on your own life.

Much the Same were a 2000's era skatepunk band that remind me a lot of how it felt to hear the blistering fast melodies of many of the aforementioned bands for the first time and it's a feeling i never get sick of. They're heavily influenced, or at least sound influence by many, if not all of the bands i mentioned above. In 2006 they released their second full-length entitled Survive, it's more polished and more melodic than any of their previous efforts but it's also their most complete album. I just recently decided to give this a listen and i was more than glad that i did. It's incredibly catchy but it still has that edge that a lot of modern bands attempting to play this stuff lack. The guitar work is fairly simple, it's layered heavily enough, almost too much, but the more I've listened to this record the more it fits. Overall i really enjoy the guitar on this record, i also think the vocals are the strongest aspect, they aren't overbearing, but they aren't too timid either, they just fit the music very well. I guess that's how i would describe this whole record, it fits together really well, it's the culmination of playing hundreds if not thousands of shows together and releasing two E.P.'s and two full-lengths over the course of 7 or 8 years. There isn't much else to say, i won't even mention any stand-out tracks, their aren't any, outside of Skeletons. It seems to flow well enough that each song has a distinctness while still maintaining a fluidity that's hard for most bands to discover. Every song is worth listening to, the lyrics are nothing spectacular but they aren't mindless either, whatever the case it's clear that an incredible amount of effort went into every aspect of this record. This band just recently broke up, it would have been nice to see them live but judging by this record they left on the top of their game. If you're into this stuff, or think you might be, pick this up, it's on Nitro records which in my opinion is one of the better punk labels putting out music right now.