Album Review: In Her Own Words – Unfamiliar

The Californian high energy pop punk band In Her Own Words released their new album, Unfamiliar, via InVogue Records last month, This is the follow up to the Bad Weather EP that was released at the tail end of 2015. Unfamiliar is their debut full length following their signing to InVogue Records earlier this year, it’s always good to see new blood being inducted into the punk world, so what have In Her Own Words brought to the pop punk party?

Unfamiliar opens with in an ironically familiar fashion, the first track, Nothing Left, starts with a crash of power chords which then leads into a chugging riff, from here on in it seems to be pop punk 101. Unfamiliar consists of eleven tracks of perfectly pleasant, but somewhat unsurprising pop punk, that seems to fall just short of the mark. There are downbeat numbers that ease things down slightly, such as Silver Light, and there are tracks that inject a but more energy, but they only differ slightly from the overall mid-tempo pace of the album, and there’s nothing to set your pulse racing or to induce thoughtful reflection, Unfamiliar just washes over you in all too familiar way.

Unfamiliar is an album that ticks all the boxes but somehow it just didn’t manage to grab me and I’m left feeling somewhat underwhelmed, that’s not to say that this is in anyway a bad album, it’s just that I got the feeling that I’ve heard it all before. In an age where their are pop punk bands on every continent, in every country and pretty much playing in every local venue, there has to be something to make them identifiable from the pack. For me In Her Own Words are running firmly amongst the pack, and they’re probably having a ball being there, but they’ll need to grow some fangs if they’re going to move up and take the lead.

Unfamiliar can be ordered via iTunes or from InVogue Records, in a variety of formats and bundles, here