Gathering hype faster than you can say "why'd they take the vowels out of their name?" WSTR is making waves in the pop-punk community as the new kids on the block of the United Kingdom. The quintet's first offering, debut EP SKRWD, is quite frankly as close to pop punk perfection as it gets.

SKRWD opens tracks "South Drive," and "Fair Weather," a solid pair of energetic, fast-temped, melodic pop punk songs, about getting rid of negative influences and friends making unfavorable situations that much better; "and at the end of the day my friends are dicks but I would never have it any other way." Though the lyrical subjects are not particularly new or complex — WSTR just does it right.

The third song, "Graveyard Shift," is the ep's lead single, and a standout song on it's own merits. A music video was put out several months before SKRWD's release for "Graveyard Shift," (featuring the band playing in a graveyard wearing corpse paint) which lead to the bands initial word-of-mouth rise. This song absolutely rips on so many levels. From its bouncy intro, sing-a-long chorus and relevance to the now 4,000 WSTR fans who are all most likely working dead-end jobs they hate, "Graveyard Shift," has it all. After listening to this song for months on end, it still hasn't lost any punch — a true testament to its brilliance.

Track 4, "Brainsick," features one of the most head-bobbing intro's on the ep, and the song itself completely nails that 'bouncy' pop-punk sound that's sure to get you dancing badly. The next song, "Ain't Great," is a solid fast, melodic entry. I would say that this song is my least favorite on the EP, when compared to the ep as a whole. But if I'm still singing along with the weakest song on the EP, WSTR is doing something right. Not to mention the bridge featuring the vocal stylings of Laura Whiteside adds a nice feminine touch.

SKRWD's last song, "Devils N' Demons," came out of nowhere. I was just finishing listening to SKRWD and had little expectations for the last song. The EP had been so top-notch up to that point that they could've farted into the microphone for the last song and it would have still been a solid EP, but then "Devils N' Demons," happened. The intro is simple but gorgeous, the verse is fast and melodic and the lyrics tie up the whole theme of the ep all in one nice, pretty bow.

Overall, SKRWD is the best pop punk-related release of the year. We still have a couple months to go in 2015, so unless another record comes along and steals the crown, I say give it to WSTR. The songs are not new, and the lyrics are not literary works of art by any stretch of the imagination, but WSTR just dominated pop punk by doing it all perfectly. They didn't reinvent the cheeseburger, they just cooked it right.

WSTR is a new band that sounds like they've been doing this for 10 years. I wouldn't ordinarily give a brand-new band 8/10, but SKRWD is too damn good. I will be listening to SKRWD 10 years from now, and like that Men's Warehouse guy, "I guarantee it." When I first heard "Graveyard Shift," I was hooked & I haven't been this excited about a band since I heard Comeback Kid's "Turn it Around," in 2003, and I'm still listening to that record today, 12 years later.

I think people will be somewhat divided with WSTR. Those that love all the pop punk goodness, and those that write them off as a Neck Deep photocopy, which the band doesn't try to distance themselves from as Ben & West appear in the "Graveyard Shift" video, they recorded with Ben Barlow's brother, they have Laura Whiteside sing on "Ain't Great," ... you get the idea. But at the end of the day, SKRWD is some of the best pop punk I've heard in a long time, and I'm okay with that.