H2O used to rule. I remember when I got "Thicker Than Water" from Epitaph when it first came out, and I was blown away. I played that album nonstop, dubbed it for my car tape deck, saw the band live on the Warped Tour, bought their back catalog, and all was well. Then "F.T.T.W." came out, and I wasn't as much of a fan. The hardcore seemed to be on a downturn, although the album still packed one hell of a punch.

Then "Go!" came out.

"Go!" was horrible. The music went completely bland and generic, the label tried to push the hidden cover song as the single, and Toby's voice went straight to shit on the recording. I saw the band live last summer on the Warped Tour again and they still had it - even the new material sounded decent. I just chalked it up to too many A&R Reps standing over the boards telling the engineers what to do.

Now, we have the brand new "All We Want" EP.

And it's terrible.

This band has absolutely no passion or energy anymore, at least on recording. "All We Want" is an absolutely horrible mid-tempo number that reminds me too much of Pennywise's "The World" for comfort. "Static" is the best song out of the new three, sounding the most like the band's older, faster material [the production still sucks on it, though, and sucks any life that might have been there right out of the track]. The third song, "Wrong," is just as slow and boring as "All We Want." There's nothing special about the songs at all.

The band does include two live tracks on here - "Role Model" and "Memory Lane." They were the two best songs off "Go!", and they sound infinitely better live, mainly because Toby actually sounds normal in these live recordings, opposed to the "nuts-in-the-vice" voice present on "Go!". But even these recordings sound incredibly low-budget - I have bootlegs of bands that sound cleaner than this.

To add insult to injury, MCA bleeped out the swear words on the live tracks! I'm not some huge advocate for swearing or something, but c'mon, H2O - stand up for yourselves against MCA before the label completely ruins you!

Oh yeah, the video for "Role Model" is also included on the disc, and it's actually a pretty good video [I wouldn't have known, since I don't think it ever got played ever]. So all in all, you have three brand new, absolutely horrid songs [I'd say they're the worst of the band's career], two decent live tracks, and one overlooked video. Is this worth it? Not unless you really, really are a fan.

A really, really big fan.

Don't forget your roots, H2O.