Boss Daughter – Bouts With Bummers

Boss Daughter are back and loud with this their third album, well definitely loud and probably third album. As you might have guessed I’m not 100% up on this Reno band, and no I’m not gonna just read up and fake the fact I’ve listened to them loads, so here is my not so educated review on this 3rd ish album.

Bouts With Bummers is made up of 16 tracks which when the opener ‘Never Alone’ hits your ears, you are immediately struck by the NOFX influence, which is something that most definitely hangs around throughout this album, yet Boss Daughter do bring so much more to the table throughout.  A combination of fast paced pop punk, some slices of hardcore and a whole chunk of ska punk are found spliced together within the depths of this eclectic punk album, ‘Extinction’ has a Less Than Jake Feel although at a very faster pace, and to be fair, the further into the tracks you go, the more LTJ you hear, but It never becomes to much and its so well blended with what BD are, take ‘Departure’ it has a ska punk heart, but its so much more than this, in fact its more of what I personally would like to hear from BD, a much more individualistic and brilliant track.

‘Pinch Hitter’ is where we find the more hardcore stuff coming through, a drum beat that rips you up like a pepper grinder could, and a vocal that try’s to reach Rollins esque anger (but not quite), then there’s ‘Home Field Advantage’ which does sit right next to the latter on the album, “is this just a side project between the lines” you wonder to yourself, but it does give the whole album some diversity, which is never bad.

Taking this album as a whole, its very easy to split it up into its components and hear a plethora of influence and maybe even think “its just another copycat group”, but actually I like the fact that there is some aspect of familiarity and a base to get you listening, but then you can be rewarded by hearing a band that has a sound all of their own that yes is driven by influence, but still stand on its own two feet, take a listen to ‘Okay’ or ‘Concealed Vision’ and come away still saying they are just a copycat band, and I’ll say your not listening properly, I’ve heard enough in this genre to get fed up of same old same old, to know this is a sound that BD should pursue further for me.

If your a NOFX, Less Than Jake fan, you are most definitely going to be happy with this album, but its not just for that reason you should listen, its a complex meld of these influences and the bands own take on what punk should be, a defiantly brilliant sound that takes the best from the past and hits it with a baseball bat until it submits to their will.

Out now via SBÄM Records

Head over to the bands WEBSITE for all the sound and vision you can handle.