Oceanside, CA’s, The Bombpops, have started the new year off right by releasing the Can of Worms EP. This 7-inch has two pop-punk jams both of which have a ton of attitude lyrically and rip equally hard instrumentally. Compared to their other releases it’s a bit more polished production-wise, but in this case it worked well for them.

What really makes The Bombpops stand out from the other pop-punk bands is that their songs don’t just consist of a few power chords. They make sure that the lead guitar is playing a rockin’, and usually, pretty complicated guitar riff. And that’s exactly what we get in the first song “Can O’ Worms.” The lead guitar riff in this song is a great mix of high-notes and distortion. It is just short enough so that it doesn’t cast a shadow over the other instruments, but long enough so that it adds some extra character to the song. The band got it just right. And if you pay a little extra attention, you can hear the really fast bass fills that are played on top of it. When it comes to the vocals in “Can O’ Worms” The Bombpops shine when guitarists and vocalists, Poli Van Dam and Jen Razavi, harmonize with each other.

The B-side’s track, “Breathe,” is a bit of a rollercoaster of a song. It starts out with a pretty aggressive guitar intro, which at first made me think that the whole song was going stay at that consistency. But it eventually slows down for the verse where the singers harmonize beautifully yet again until the song builds up to the faster and extremely catchy chorus.

This is some of The Bombpops’ best work yet. If you are a lover of uber-poppy punk rock give this 7-inch a shot.