Junior are a pop punk band and their interestingly titled album Juniorland is a piece with a definite Blink-182 vibe. It’s very nostalgic and sends you back to the early 2000’s with their upbeat instrumentation and miserable lyrics.
The album opens with A House That’s Not Quite Home which opens with a Chunk, No Captain Chunk style riff before kicking in with the Blink 182 sound. The opening riff is mosh-worthy and really upbeat and when the verse drops it is a smooth, well written transition. The chorus is catchy but that’s because it’s so repetitive and monotonic; the song goes on a bit and they could have easily cut two minutes of the song. It sounds like they were trying to hard to write a song like Stay Together For The Kids as the production, melody and instrumentation is similar.
That Pretty Dress is a fun song with a marching band drum beat at the start before the drab vocals kick in, it’s got fun instrumentation that makes you want to bop your head along and sway, and you might even want to whistle along with the catchy whistle line they have incorporated into their song. The guitar is well written and has a pleasant tone that will give you a nostalgic feel that will take you back to slip-on Vans and MySpace. The vocalists, although a bit monotonic, are inciting and keep you interested in what they are saying.
It wouldn’t be a pop punk album without a slow heart felt acoustic song. Lakeside has a slow moving, generic acoustic chord structure with a riff over the top. Relatable lyrics make the song feel more like the singer
understands you while also gives the band the opportunity to show they can do more then upbeat sad songs. The song after, If I Had The Time I’d Tell You I’m Not Sorry is really upbeat and fun which is a contrast to Lakeside and it and shows off the bands ability to write a breakdown like every good pop punk band should be able to whilst also showing that the singers are really in sync with harmonies and how they can finish each others sentences which works well to give the song the upbeat feel they were going for.
If you want a Blink 182-esque band to reminisce to about your secondary school days then this is the band for you. They’re nothing out of the ordinary; they play their instruments well and sing in tune but they lack originality in their songwriting ability. Maybe stepping away from the Blink 182 influence would help.
5/10
