After The Swellers released “My Everest” back in 2007 and throughout their tour with A Wilhelm Scream, you could see punkrockers all over the place nodding their heads both in approval and to the rocking sounds this outfit had to offer. Then came the news they had signed with Fueled By Ramen and all of a sudden punkrockers found themselves bawling their eyes out right alongside the emo kids that adore all Fueled By Ramen releases.
But all that was unnecessary because these guys haven’t changed a bit on “Up And Downsizing”. They still sound like all the cool bands Fat Wreck and Epitaph used to release back in the day with a fair amount of that particular poppunk sound that made Drive-Thru Records a cool label once upon a time. And I’ll be damned if all those bands weren’t what drew me into punkrock in the first place all those years ago.
So guess what? I’m loving every second of “Up And Downsizing”. It has everything that made “My Everest” a great album. Only this time around everything sounds even better. In two years time the dudes that make up The Swellers have become more technical yet have retained their knack for writing big hooks and catchy choruses. Songs like “Fire Away” and “Feet First” are among the best they have written to date while “The Iron” displays their most aggressive side. The only downside is the token acoustic song (“The Stars”) that I could’ve done without. But other than that this album is nothing less than stellar!
Score: 8.5 out of 10
http://www.fueledbyramen.com
http://www.myspace.com/theswellers
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