PUP

PUP (2014)

Ricky Frankel

Canadian punk band PUP has really gotten a great start with their music career with their first full-length. This album is absolutely rockin'. The band holds no aggression back in any of their songs on this LP, which is especially due to lead singer and guitarist Stefan Babcock's phenomenal vocals. This aggression is consistently heard through out the album. Overall this album is very consistent in terms of its sound and energy as well, so much so that you don't need to skip any songs when listening to it.

This record starts out with the song "Guilt Trip," which seems more like a post-punk song. It's a very strong start for the entire album. However, the second song, which is called "Reservoir," is fantastic and probably the best song on the album. This is the song where PUP truly shines and shows that they have a lot of potential and a ton of promise. The main guitar riff in "Reservoir" is so catchy and Babcock's vocals match up perfectly with it. Not to mention the great back-up vocals. The chorus is also incredibly catchy and easy to sing along to. It's a song you can imagine jumping up and down to in the pit and being really pumped that they are playing it if you see them live. The guitar solo in this song (from what I can tell) consists only of guitar bends and they work so well with the rest of the song and Babcock's screaming. They shot a great music video for this song you can check out > here.

Another great song on this record is called "Back Against the Wall." It has the same screaming lead vocals and great back-up vocals, but this song has a sort of indie-rock vibe to it (which is also heard in other songs like "Dark Days"), while maintaining the aggression that is prevalent through out the album. You really hear the indie-rock vibe in the guitar introduction of this song, but then it quickly changes to a full-fledged punk song. PUP's ability to write such an awesome chorus is very apparent in this song, too.

Even though this is PUP's first full-length, it will definitely exceed the listener's expectations. This is a band that the scene should really keep an eye on because if this album is just the beginning for PUP, it should be really exciting to see what they release in the future.