Knuckle Puck - Copacetic (Album Review)

Last year around this time I wrote a review for Real Friends debut album Maybe This Place Is The Same And We're Just Changing. In the review I discussed how Real Friends debut album was really a graduation of everything they'd worked up to and that the debut album was kind of the job interview for a larger and more successful career. I also talked about how Knuckle Puck had inherited the tumblr, blog, buzz band position from Real Friends. Both bands released some really highly successful EPs prior to their debut and both had a massive vinyl push behind those EPs. Real Friends signed with Fearless and their debut album saw pretty good success landing at number 24 on the Billboard top 200. It seems the time has come for Knuckle Puck to graduate and take a chance at being one of the top tier pop/punk bands in the scene. I think Copacetic has set pretty high on my most anticipated albums list all year and I definitely couldn't wait to check it out.

After a few listens of Copacetic I have to say it's a really enjoyable album. I think the band really lives up to the hype they've built. More often than not, over the last few years, I've seen a ton of bands have really good songs on two or three EPs and by the time they make it to an album their song farm has dried up. Luckily that isn't the case with Copacetic. The songs are pretty strong, lyrically it's good, and the album has a nice flow. Vocalist Joe Taylor leads the album and his vocals sound as good as ever and actually somewhat improved from some of the bands prior stuff. The guitar work is nice throughout the album. The band takes more chances on melodic parts in the song than they had in some of their previous songs. Toning down a little of the blistering pace and adding in these melodic elements creates some room for the songs to breathe and adds some really good transitions to songs. There are some blistering drum parts on this album which sound pretty cool. It can be a little overpowering sounding due to the productions style, but nonetheless it adds a lot to the songs. "Wall To Wall (Depreciation)" is a great opener. It's high energy pop/punk and it kicks the album off in a really good way. "Swing" is a song where everything comes together and it has all the elements I'm talking about. The song has good pacing, lyrics, and energy while working well with some of the melodic and abrasive elements of the bands sound. It's a standout song on the album.

My big criticism about the album, and it's almost not really about the album but some of the expectations that are being placed on it, is that most news outlets you see will tout the band as being brave navigators into new territory. Pointing to some experimentation with style as well as talking about the nearly eight minute album closer "Untitled" to justify the claim. Now my criticism with that is that maybe too many expectations are being put into what exactly those things mean. To me "Untitled" is a really good song, but the last three or so minutes don't necessarily push the band into super experimental territory or really push the genre much. It's really just a long winded outro. Sure, I enjoy it and that's all that matters to the listener, but I almost feel like people are making a little too much about it. The band does take the time to expand some of their melodic influences but it's nothing too jarring or unexpected. The band has toyed with some of those sounds on past releases. I guess I'm basically saying, yeah there may be moments of more solid songwriting but this seems pretty much in line with what the band has done in the past; it has just been improved and refined a little. It's nothing that really sounded all that unexpected to me, which isn't negative. I expected a good pop/punk album and I got a good pop/punk album. Just don't go into this one thinking the pop/punk game is going to be changed with Copacetic. Instead go into it just expecting a really solid album.

Overall this is easily one of the standout pop/punk albums of the year so far. I think this album will have some nice lasting power and be something I come back to throughout the year a lot. I'm impressed with the progress the band has made and the good songs on this album. I'm feeling Copacetic may end up pretty high on my end of the year list. It's a super solid listen and I'm honestly really digging it.