State Champs’ highly anticipated second full length album, Around The World And Back, is one of the best pop punk records released this year, and there are some huge contenders for the title this year.
The album opens with the hugely energetic Eyes Open which kicks into the upbeat drums and shredding guitar. The catchy chorus, something the band are known for writing, will implant itself in your mind. It’s the
kind of song to open an arena for their headline shows with and it transitions into the next song well, which was the bands first single from the album, Secrets. It’s an infectious sing along song with an overall impressive instrumental, melody and production. The bass shows a major part of the song with a very typical drum and bass solo in the second verse. A fairly basic guitar riff dominates the song, but basic works in this instance.
Shape Up opens up with a nifty drum fill that sets the song up for a misleading drop. The clever production work helps to give this idea of a drop before the clean little riff hits. Soon after it drops and it’ll make you move and really get into the song. The guitar riffs are impressively complex and help give the song a new level of depth and help to really show what the band want you to pay attention to. It’s a well written song; it’s not the catchiest song on the album but in terms of songwriting it’s one of the best.
There has been a big thing in the last year that pop punk is dying, what with the loss of some huge names in the scene, but this new wave of the genre, bands like State Champs prove the scene is alive and thriving. The album has anthem after anthem – the band write catchy songs incredibly well and the instrumental is a step up from their last album and the band will soar to new heights with this album.
8/10
