Posted on: September 26, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Monikers – Eat Your Young / 2006 Kiss of Death / 5 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/monikers / http://www.kissofdeathrecords.com /

“Eat Your Young” starts out with “Information”, a track that has a emotional blend of guitar and drums until the slightly snotty vocals of the band kick in in a very Fat Wreck type of style. The production of the disc seems to oppress the guitars and vocals while giving an accurate sound to the deeper (drums and bass) parts of the band. Still, the catchiness of Monikers shows through and “Information” is a track that succeeds through appreciation of mid nineties punk, grunge, and a little bit of the current energy of rock music. The very dense style of the tracks means that the sub-three minute runtimes of tracks like the aforementioned “Information” and “Two Stories” feel as if Monikers have given their fans a five minute long opus.

“Two Stories” does not add anything substantially new to the mix, despite being another bit of shiny and catchy pop-punk music. “Holiday” is the shortest track on the disc, and succeeds through a heavier use of the grunge influence that was present of “Information” and its predecessor, the chaotic, shifting guitar work of bands like Husker Du and The Replacements. Still, there is something that feels as if it is missing from Monikers before the band can truly win masses of fans.  The stutter-step that Monikers take during “Mirror Images” gets me excited about the disc again. It is these type of small things that shows me the allure of the act. I have no doubt in my mind that given a little bit better method of recording and percussion,  that the act could easily be as famous as a Two Gallahnts or (going back a few years) a Lillingtons. Here’s to hoping that the band has that opportunity in the near future. Pick up the disc if you like punk of any form.

Top Track: Mirror Images

Rating: 6.6/10

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