St Albans pop-punkers Trash Boat have released their new EP Brainworks through US giants Hopeless Records, and here are our thoughts.
The EP kicks in quickly with the heavily instrumental based song Taylor which shows off their ability to write upbeat songs. The short song that clocks in at just over a minute shows off all the bands assets easily: their impressive melody writing, their abilities to write a good build up and their creative, yet unoriginal instrumental work. However, they don’t seem to think outside the box and just stick to the same formula as every other band in the pop punk Genre.
Perspective is the bands lead single from Brainworks and it’s probably because it’s the best song on the EP. The intro is a great demonstration of the bands lyrical writing but the vocals are a bit harsh and shouting the whole intro makes it too aggressive and if they used different vocal techniques it would help them push themselves to write more musically complex music. The drums are complex as they are throughout the EP and its clear to see that drummer Oakley can write an impressive drum fill and write a drum to fit a song, even if it some of the cymbal work does seem a little bit unnecessary. The bass work is great and really gives some depth to the song which helps to add to those drops and build ups that the band seems to love.
The overall EP shows off the bands fantastic drummer, and is a fun EP that they’ve clearly thought about performing live as they are filled with well executed drops that would make a crowd move. Unfortunately, it’s just a bit boring to listen to and doesn’t offer much to the table. If the band experimented and showed off some new exciting elements to their song writing then the band could blow up, but they don’t offer anything new that hasn’t been done a million time before at the moment. It’s got some fun songs to listen to and they would be a lot of fun live they just lack some individuality that pop punk bands need to set them apart.
6/10
