At the Warped Tour last year, I saw an obviously cooler-than-thou punk rock kid with a T-shirt that said: "Punks not dead, it just sucks now." (mispellings intact)

Now, while I initially wrote this guy off as one of those annoying dorks who can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that a genre of music evolves over, say, twenty-five years, I found a much stronger argument in the Methadones.

Released in March 18th on Stardumb Records of Rotterdam, who charmingly spell Punk Rock as one word, "Career Objective" is a testament to the fact that punk is neither dead, nor does it suck. You can probably guess what the basic sound is, considering the history of the members - it features members of Screeching Weasel, the Mopes, the Riverdales, and the Vindictives - which is to say, speedy, melodic three chord punk rock as pioneered by the Ramones.

Not as snotty as Screeching Weasel, nor as directly Ramones-influenced as the Riverdales, but definitely incorporating elements of Dan's past bands, Career Objective is not a revolutionary record, but it definitely showcases the evolution of punk over aforementioned decade and a half.

While this style of punk is fundamentally pretty repetitive - no one ever accused the Ramones of being different on every track - it can be done well. There are quite a few strong points on the record; "Say Goodbye to Your Generation" is pure classic pop, while "Far Away" and "You Don't Know Me Anymore" remind me a great deal of older Green Day, and some tracks like "TV World" are a very unique take on a classic formula.

Pop-punk in this vein has definitely been off the radar lately, with wonderful records like the Lillington's Backchannel Broadcast being ignored for the preponderance of sing-scream hardcore bands, but for those of you who still hold a candle for the classic style, this is definitely worth checking out.