Album Review: Straightline – Vanishing Values

German melodic skate punkers Straightline will be releasing their latest album, Vanishing Values, worldwide tomorrow, February 10th 2017, through Bird Attack Records. The quartet, who reside in Munich, Germany, have previously released three albums, and an identical number of EPs, all of which are filled with fiery metal riffs built on a solid punk rock backbone. Their latest album, Vanishing Values, brings together the best elements of their past releases in a twelve song package, one that demonstrates why Straightline have built a loyal following that brings metalheads and punks into the fold in equal measure.

Vanishing Lives opens with Generation Lost, a furious hybrid of punk rock that incorporates the less self indulgent elements of thrash metal, including breakdowns and, thankfully brief, technical guitar solos. The album continues to vary the balance, Pleonexia leans towards a stronger influence from melodic hardcore with the metal elements on the back burner, whilst Not Afraid takes things back into the thrash realm, The album continues to veer wildly, combining their influences to produce a unique fusion of thrash metal, punk rock and melodic hardcore, and even touches of dub and folk punk, that you can’t help but be impressed by.

Straightline have produced an album that will please fans from both camps, Vanishing Lives is an album that has managed to balance the competing influences perfectly, it’s wouldn’t take a genius to guess that I prefer the tracks that have a stronger punk influence, but I didn’t encounter anything on the thrashier tracks that had me reaching to skip to the next track. You can detect a hefty influence from the likes of Propaghandi, Strung Out, Good Riddance and Lagwagon in their sound, these are married perfectly to the influences from the parallel universe that metal and thrash inhabit to produce an impressive crossover album, this is not any easy trick to pull off, but it’s one that Straightline have managed to make sound effortless.

The Bird Attack Records Bandcamp can be found here and their website is here

Straghtline‘s Facebook page can be found here and their Bandcamp is here