Burning Fiction – Don’t Lose Touch

Australia’s Burning Fiction is the type of band I love running across at least a couple times a year.  The group is a relatively new bare-bones punk rock upstart content to meaningfully contribute to a very well established and tight knit genre.  In other words, the five-piece is clearly not in it to be the next big punk innovation, but rather to help respect and celebrate the legacy that became known as the distinct 90’s “Epi-Fat” sound.

At its core, the band sounds precisely like what you would expect a group who cites Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, Strung Out, and A Wilhelm Scream as their favourite artists, to end up like.  Vocalist Matty B. channels a distinct high-pitched Joey Cape/Tony Sly style that easily captures the sloppy and playful execution of their source material.  The first two tracks, “Ode” and “Die Trying” ease the listener in with some fairly straightforward Lagwagon inspired melodies.  Complete with blistering drumbeats and melodic guitar work, these tracks feel more like Lagwagon than anything Lagwagon has released over the past ten years.

Then “Walk Hard” starts and a sudden barrage of ambitious metal guitar work explodes forth.  Here a definite Strung Out influence immediately takes hold of guitarists Piper and Pete, as they create a multilayered, aggressive soundscape.  The technique hits its pinnacle four songs later with “The Enlistment,” where guitar solos run rampant and technical ambition unfolds.  To up the ante and further feed the fury Matty suddenly explodes into raw, throaty, A Wilhelm Scream-like cry.  Despite wearing all of their influences on their sleeves, when Burning Fiction puts them together, they sound fresh and alive, and distinctly their own – imitation may be flattery, but amalgamation just outright sounds good.

Lyrically, they’re right up there with their influences as well.  Most tracks are introspective and politically charged.  “With The Grain,” an obvious play off of the Bad Religion track titled oppositely, speaks of the consequences of conformity, and many others, like “Paper Scissors,” act as a call to moral arms and conscious – strong messages with a strong delivery.

I suppose some may argue that Don’t Lose Touch trumpets a past sound, but personally I feel that there is always room for a skillful revisiting of past trends, making Burning Fiction an easy recommendation for those who enjoy revisiting that fast, aggressive 90’s Epi-Fat sound.