A lot of great bands have come out of Talk-Sick’s home town of Halifax, NS, but as far as I know, none of them have been punk bands. I mean, I spent 20 minutes Googling “Halifax punk rock scene” and unless you wanna count Sloan’s hardcore EP, I was hard pressed to find something I’d heard of before. I like to speculate, so I’m gonna go ahead and assume a lackluster hometown scene prompted Talk-Sick to move to Montreal shortly after self-releasing their debut, Waste in 2007. Whatever the case, the move paid off, as their much improved second album Genetics has been picked up and re-released by Toronto based Unknown Records.

Musically speaking Genetics is reminiscent of all those Mohawk clad 80’s bands with stencil logos: high bpm, lots of d-beat, and lyrics ranging in topic from intelligent social commentary to the pains of getting whacked in the balls. Some songs (“Bed Bugs”) are catchy enough to get stuck in your head, while the lyrics to songs like “Love is Dead” and “Whack” relish in age old punk tropes without delving into cliche. As somebody who doesn’t usually enjoy this brand of punk rock, I’d have to recommend giving Genetics a spin, if only to get a good chuckle out of the John Wayne Gacy inspired “Clownin’” at the end.

Unfortunately, Genetics relies so heavily on speed that its standout moments aren’t really given any breathing room. Talk-Sick has both the melodic sensibility and songwriting talent to make great music, but they don’t flex their muscle nearly enough and Genetics suffers as a result. A few more mid-tempo songs like “Bananas” or some of the stylistic gambling found on Talk-Sick’s earlier work would’ve done this album some good. Instead, the band’s potential is almost lost amongst a sea of d-beat and call/response choruses as the album treads dangerously far into "genre exercise" territory.

That’s not to say that Genetics is a bad album-- far from it. Fans of bands like The Exploited will probably enjoy this record, and casual observers will be able to find redeeming value if they’re looking hard enough. Talk-Sick are talented songwriters, good musicians, and carry an air of professionalism not often found among bands of their calibre. Provided they can flesh their ideas out a little more, these good ol' Maritime boys have the potential to create something truly special in the future. Unfortunately, Genetics just isn’t there yet.