Posted on: December 30, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Why has Patent Pending been under the radar for so long that I’ve never heard of them? The first track on “Save The Children”, “Los Angeles” is a tremendously sped-up pop-punk track that does everything that the band wants to do in three a half minutes. If the album was just this single individuals would be happy, but Patent Pending through their infinite kindness has decided to cut another fourteen tracks to cut their teeth on.

The maturity of the band in creating a breakdown that drastically slows down the momentum of the disc but coming back like the mythical phoenix is truly a work of art. However much of a victory that Patent Pending could claim on “Los Angeles” seems miniature compared to the master work that is “This Can’t Happen Again”. It is like 1998 never left and the pop-punk bands are all in their former glory; Patent Pending seems to be the king of the hill of these acts, with tracks that are catchy but not clichéd in the least. “Decemberween” is another tweak to the sound of Patent Pending; the slower tempo of the track actually goes back to another style that was all the rage in 1998 in ska music, but the light sprinkling of horns is not enough to drag the track into the stiff oft-maligned genre. “Lights Out in Mississippi” should be a track that shows newer bands like Simple Plan how to really do a slower song, in the hope that tracks like “Untitled” never happen again.

The style is still unmistakably pop-punk, but the tempo has been slowed down considerably and the vocals have been given a privileged position at the front of the track. While the hook of the track is slightly cheesey (mentioning a number of different tracks), Patent Pending make the case for the fact that they’ve been to each of these tracks; this is not merely a re-branded shout out to a number of different cities. Bar none, Patent Pending is by far one of the best pop-punk bands to come out of the last ten years. The fact that the band can tie together emo, ska, and even a Dave Matthews like sound to their own style (in a track like “Demo For Dayna” shows that the band is ready for the big time should enough fans back them when this “Save The Children” album is released in a few short months.

Top Tracks: Decemberween, Cheer Up Emo Kid

Rating: 7.6/10

Patent Pending – Save The Children, The Whales Are Doing Fine / 2006 EastWest / 15 Tracks / http://www.patentpendingsmells.com / Reviewed 20 March 2006

[JMcQ]

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