Seams & Stitches

Did time slip back to the 90’s? It sure seems like it did or I should say, listening to the band With the Punches new album Seams and Stitches sounds like I’m listening to punk music from the 90’s. I should also say it sounds like listening to the good punk music from the 90’s that made this style of punk music popular and fun to listen to. The fast beats, the quick notes being played on the guitars and drums, vocals that are loud but not screaming while also being sung in a quick paced tempo, and lyrics that sound more like someone talking to me.
It’s easy to hear some of the popular bands from the 90’s being a influence in the sound of With the Punches. If this was still the 90’s then I would be saying that they were a copy cat band that couldn’t come up with their own style of music. However, being that the 90’s were nearly 20 years ago, instead of being a copy cat band, With the Punches have taken what was good during those times to remind us that music in the 90’s could be good. Do they have any new sound, beat, or aspect that they add to Seams and Stitches that makes the album all new and all theirs? Well not exactly, but what they do have that’s different that could be consider their own sound is that they don’t sound like the same junk being played on the radio today.
The songs being played on the album are catchy, fun, and full of that high beat energy that make you not only want to jump around but feel young. Seams and Stitches features vocals that sound natural, but more importantly they don’t sound as if a machine has spit out a facsimile of what singing should sound like. As I said the lyrics sound more like someone talking to me and that because the lyrics are strong with no hidden meanings that make me wonder what the song might be about. And ok, the band does do something that makes the album all their own, they allow the songs to change up some from one from the other. Though the underlying tempo of the songs remain the same, quick and intense, With the Punches also let one song have a good bass line while another one has the drums taking center stage. What’s the most impressive about Seams and Stitches is that With the Punches sound like they have been playing for a while now instead of this being their debut album.