CD REVIEW: Louder Than Bombs “What Resonates”

Louder Than Bombs “What Resonates”

                I don’t like the new Hot Water Music album.  I also don’t like all of these bands trying to rip off the sound that HWM once created and I once loved back when I saw Saves the Day open for them.   Yes, there are bands that have been so influenced by Hot Water Music that they’ve failed to develop their own sound.   And yes, over time and maybe just my becoming more jaded there has also been a decline just in the all around sound of the band Hot Water Music themselves.  (I won’t begin to dissect what exactly went wrong and when)

                Louder Than Bombs actually provides a nice alternative to these bands that are coming out sounding like Hot Water Music as they have that same sort of feeling and vibe without sounding exactly like them in their early days.    It’s not that LTB sounds like HWM so much as they have that blue collar punk rock that I fell in love with when I first heard HWM.   (Actually, when I first heard HWM I didn’t like them, but that’s another story) 

                Bringing in vibes of No Use For a Name or various other punk bands you could find on Fat Wreck Chords in the late ‘90s / early ‘00s, Louder Than Bombs is truly carving their own niche in the musical world rather than following a familiar path.    This especially becomes evident on an anathematic song like “Banish”, which is one of my favorites from the album not just for the lyrics but also for the delivery.  

                This is more music to satisfy the punk rock fan who grew up listening to Epitaph when they, you know, had punk bands.