Time and time again, New Jersey's
Bouncing Souls have proven that they're the kings of the summertime record, delivering album after album of rousing, heart-on-sleeve good-time punk rock that keeps fans coming back for more.
The Souls continue the trend on their ninth album,
Comet, a record whose sunny drive almost demands to be listened to while driving with the windows down to beat the cruel summer heat.
The Souls still have that wistful, lovelorn quality that has made them punk rock's hopeless romantics for going on 25 years. As you'd hope,
the Souls cover all the usual bases, tackling fickle affairs of the heart with "Coin Toss Girl" and "In Sleep," while still bringing the fun with singalong party anthems like "DFA" and "We Love Fun." Even when the album gets a bit dark, as on the apocalyptic "Comet," there's still something uplifting about the music. Where other punk bands are all about "everything sucks so who cares,"
the Bouncing Souls are still all heart, even facing the end of the world with some kind of hope that things will be OK. It's this kind of endless optimism that makes
Comet a worthy entry into the catalog of a band that has proven again and again that punk rock isn't so much about being angry or angsty as it is about being genuine and expressing what you're really feeling, and giving the true believers in their fan base another album to carry them through summer in the process. ~ Gregory Heaney