Album Review: Zebrahead – Brain Invaders

It all started for Zebrahead over twenty years ago with their debut EP, Yellow, since then they’ve been signed to major labels, released a dozen albums that have sold over two million copies between them, appeared on blockbuster movie soundtracks and even earned a Grammy nomination from a collaboration with Motorhead. Today Zebrahead are releasing their thirteenth studio album, Brain Invaders, I’ll admit that expectations from their latest offering were lowered by my only previous experience of Zebrahead being a somewhat lacklustre covers album, 2009’s Panty Raid, and I’ll come clean that I haven’t been really been paying attention since, but ten years is a long time…

If you’re going to get my attention then a succinct political statement like the opening track, When Both Sides Suck, We’re All Winners, is as good a way as any to do that, couple this with the fact that this hard hitting slab of poppy punk rock grabs you by the throat and the disappointment of Panty Raid is forgotten before the track has finished. Brain Invaders continues to skip between pop punk, rapcore, punk rock, rock, ska punk and alt rock all the while maintaining  an anthemic knockabout fist pumping feel good vibe that even a jaded old punk like found irresistible, I even found myself slamming a fist into the air at one point, much the bemusement of my cats and possibly my neighbours.

Brain Invaders is a valuable lesson in not judging a band by one album, and let’s face it with the notable exception of Me First And The Gimme Gimmes entire albums of cover versions are at best usually disappointing affairs. After more than twenty years Zebrahead are still surprising people, well me at least, as this a solid genre crossing album that has a core of charged pop punk, if you weren’t sure about Zebrahead then Brain Invaders might just be the album that will change your mind.

Zebrahead can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube

Brain Invaders can be purchased via Zebrahead‘s website here