The debut album by Richmond, VA's
Ann Beretta (a four-piece band, not a female singer/songwriter) has an unsatisfyingly all-over-the-place quality, as if the group doesn't quite have a handle on what it wants to sound like yet. The root of their sound is pop-punk of the
Descendents/
All school (
Bill Stevenson, the mainstay of those two bands, produced the album, which undoubtedly heightens the similarities), throwing in a horn section on the uncharacteristically ska-flavored "Burning Bridges" and a
Clash-like chanted chorus on the opening "Fire in the Hole" for variety, alongside some
Social Distortion-like nods toward roots rock and a rather pointless revved-up cover of
Cheap Trick's "Surrender" that does the song no favors. Perhaps the fact that, at this point,
Ann Beretta had two singer/songwriters in guitarists
Rob Huddleston and Leer Baker accounts for some of this stylistic aimlessness;
Ann Beretta would immediately become a much sharper and more focused band after Baker left to form
Sixer after their second album. ~ Stewart Mason