Bottom Line – Eloquence

There are two types of generic pop-punk. One of them is boring, repetitive, simple, annoying, with vocals that are whiny and make you want to rip your eardrums straight out of your skull. Its the kind of music you don’t want to hear or even think about, its just bad and incredibly generic. Then there’s another type where the music isn’t anything new that you haven’t heard before, but its still good. Its catchy melodies, energizing hooks, and smooth vocals that get stuck in your brain and forces you to sing along. Its not a great listen, but its still fun. Bottom Line fits into the latter of the two groups, and their sophomore albumEloquence demonstrates that perfectly.

The twelve song Nice Guy Records release isn’t anything ground breaking, but its still a good, catchy album. The songs are energizing, upbeat, fast, and melodic. Think of bands like New Found Glory, Relient K, All That’s Left, Allister or even Fat Wreck all-stars No Use For A Name and you could get an idea for Bottom Line. Benjamin James’ vocals are strong and confident, melodic and catchy, without being over bearing, whiny or annoying; which is something many pop-punk bands are lacking these days. The backup vocals by Dan Kinzie compliment James is a way that pushes each and every song forward rather then fill them up with pointless harmonies.

They don’t follow the current trend and throw in random screams here and there, but instead rely on real singing to support the album and succeed at doing it. The only two songs on the entire album that really let you down are the two instrumentals, Saddle Oxford (a jazz like trumpet solo) and Mystique (a space-like song that could work as a introduction but doesn’t fit in the middle of an album). These two songs lack the simplicity that makes Bottom Line enjoyable as they try to add too much to it.

Overall, Eloquence isn’t anything you haven’t heard before. But they take what you have heard before and mold it into a new album that you actually enjoy and doesn’t getting boring. A solid pop-punk release for fans of the genre.