Careers in Science are a bit like a musical drug. They have a knack for knocking out some great punk rock and hardcore with a unique quality to it, in that it's very hard to pinpoint another current band with a similar sound With last year's debut long player Foreverwolf, these four guys from Toronto released the best album of 2012. You could say my anticipation for this six-track EP has been sky high.

Kickstarting affairs with "Back to Business" it's evident there has been some effort on the band's part to throw in a new dimension or two, with a guitar sound that is reminiscent of Stephen Egerton in ALL and a few bass lines/notes akin to Mike Watt in his fIREHOSE days. That's not to say that the fire and brimstone sometimes found in Careers in Science's work is lacking, just that here there is a sense of something extra in the mix.

"All Our Birthdays" is an odd tune, in that it shows how off the wall Careers in Science can get. As the title might suggest, it's a song about each individual member of the band having a birthday and getting old. It's peculiar, but does actually work–which doesn't come as a surprise as they've shown in the past an ability to mix the serious with the humorous.

Throughout Cowards, Dave Proctor's vocals are slightly gruff but with enough clarity to allow the listener to discern the majority of the lyrics. There is no doubt that he's one of my favourite vocalists around at the moment.

The best track on the EP is "When We Have Money," another example of the band's less conventional approach. It's also a prime example of the great production and mix featured on this release, even better than that of Foreverwolf; each instrument comes across crisply in its own right, without sounding compressed into a more condensed overall sound. Everything fits together perfectly. Closing with the title track, another belter indeed, it's apparent that Careers in Science have quite clearly met expectations while allowing themselves some growth, too; it might be on a small scale but Hell, if it's not broke why fix it?