Atomic Lights Burn Out EP

Atomic Lights are a punk trio from Minnesota who have been in existence for about four years, in that time they have released two EP’s and an album, in addition to this they have toured relentlessly, including playing alongside such acts as Teenage Bottlerocket, Guttermouth, Mustard Plug, The Copyrights and The Single Mothers. Burn Out, which features some striking sleeve artwork from Matt Sullivan, was recorded at Immortal Audio by Andy Mathison, from Class Of 86.

Burn Out is an excellent bout of snotty punk rock, it opens with two tracks that have an urgent and frantic approach, there’s a brief change of pace at the half way mark, the wonderfully titled Chased Through The Woods By Clowns starts like a Butthole Surfers acid trip, but this reassuringly gives way to more furious punk rock tones before too long. The rest of Burn Out is made up of chunks of frantic punky goodness and I find myself very impressed with this consistent and impressive six track EP. For me the finest moment on the EP is the excellent No Vacancy, it contains an absolutely killer riff and is a perfect slice of infectious DIY punk rock that just fizzes with energy.

It must be said that Burn Out is a massive leap forward from their lo-fi debut album, Noise Complaint, that was released last year. Burn Out is six tracks of snarling punk rock that contains elements of hardcore, yet they retain just the merest hint of a bouncy pop punk sheen, just a hint mind you. If you’re fan of the likes of  Guttermouth, The Swingin’ Utters, Off With Their Heads and Teenage Bottlerocket then you should download Burn Out. The bottom line is you can get this impressive EP for free but maybe you should chuck them a some of your hard earned pennies, this is an outstanding release from a band doing things on their own terms, and for those reasons I think Atomic Lights deserve your support.

Burn Out can be ordered, for pay what you want, from their bandcamp here