During the cold winter solstice of 2013, most of the Punknews community was turned towards the inescapable Christmas tunes and best-of lists. But after years in the making, a crack rock steady band from Wisconsin was busy putting out a piece of music of epic proportions.

While their previous album was noted as really, really sounding like Leftöver Crack, with their latest release Atrocity Solution have outgrown the ska-core template and developed their own unique sound. Lost Remedies bears the listener on a musical voyage from ska to skate, through melodic hardcore and on into the realms of crust and thrash, even flirting with classical along the way.

The production quality has also been markedly stepped up. The musicianship is tight, complex and skilful, with all manner of sounds from vibrant upstrokes to catchy riffs to thick, layered, distorted guitars, complemented with strings and soothing solo piano parts which confer a rich and full texture. The album is well-crafted and while the tempo does vary considerably, it flows seamlessly from the sonic equivalent of the butterfly to that of the supernova, an energetic pounding to which any punker cannot but indulge in fist-pumping and gleeful moshing.

Lyrically, Lost Remedies is pretty timeless. The songwriting is sharp and rather than weighing down the music, carries it even further. In fact, each track rips it with rousing and intense vigor, from gravelly growls to soaring whoas, along with an ample share of anthemic choruses and refrains which make perfect sing-along material. The outlook is generally more pessimistic, with titles such as "Watch The World Burn" (which some of you may already know as an acoustic tune on the three-way Track The Virus split), "Withering Away" and "Equally Diseased" speaking for themselves. "Ancient Roads," with it's orchestral quality, was the first track I heard, as a preview to promote the release, "Let Us Remember" is a take-down of religion in rap-style verses, "Picking Up The Pieces" is a skanktastic and relatable view on our materialistic lives, while the recording of the thirteen-minute "Fallacy Of Ruin" was the first time the drummer had ever played it. And the list goes on, totaling fourteen killer tunes.

I have been listening to this almost constantly since it came out, and it hasn't yet once failed to deliver. In a way, that's been a hindrance, because each time I put it on I have to stop whatever I'm doing in order to hang on to every word, surf on every note, and generally just let these fourteen tunes of awesomeness sink in.