PLOSIVS Debut Album is Alternative Rock Excellence
4.7 out of 5 stars
PLOSIVS is a brand new band formed by members of other bands to create something entirely new from what would be expected of any of the bands that the members were part of before, and the debut self-titled album is an incredible example of how alternative rock music is still a great sound for new bands to go after.
The album starts off with a bang on “Hit The Breaks” and while the lyrics aren’t overly dense or challenging to understand, that is actually one of the reasons why the music works so well. It’s a bit anthemic, but more so than that, it is not overcomplicated. The songs just speak for themselves.
I think “Hit The Breaks” is probably my favorite song on the album too, and it is just 3 minutes of rock music and a simple chorus for the most part.
The band reminds me a lot of Silversun Pickups, but not like a copycat outfit by any means. Silversun Pickups are one of my favorite bands of all time anyway. So, I am not going to fault PLOSIVS for sounding like them in any way.
The next couple of songs “Rose Waterfall” and “Thrown Clear” keep up that same high energy and straightforward rock sound for the next couple of songs.
The most rocking song (at least musically) on the album might actually be the fourth song on the album “Never Likely” as the intro starts off a bit quiet with a little guitar part before it comes in blasting with the rest of the band.
For anyone who is looking for sappy, slow-tempo love songs, well, that’s not this band. At least, there are no songs that are slow tempo, and I can’t really find anything that resembles a love song on this album.
From start to finish it is just unadulterated rock music joy.
The band consists of four members - guitarist and singer Rob Crow (Pinback), guitarist John Reis (Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu), drummer Atom Willard (Against Me!, The Offspring, Angels and Airwaves) and bassist Jordan Clark (Mrs. Magician).
I would highly recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of alternative rock music even though this album and band will likely be labeled as punk due to the history of the musicians involved, but I see no evidence of punk rock in this band’s sound. Not that that is a good or bad thing. I think it should just be properly framed.
This is one of only 3 or 4 albums I have listened to more than 10 times already this year. So, I know it is going to be one I keep coming back to over and over again, and you should too.