Castoff – The Dividing Line

San Diego political punk act Castoff may be a relative newcomer to the ring of fast paced melodic punk rock, but they clearly have more than enough fuel feeding their fire.  Their debut full length, The Dividing Line, wags the finger of judgment at politics and culture in a way that should excite fans of long running acts Bad Religion, Strung Out, and Pennywise.

Jumping head first into the deep end, Castoff presents a damning impression of human nature. “This talk of peace makes for such a nice conversation point, and still we build for the next war,” sings vocalist Bill H. as he exposes the deceitful peace-time agendas that fuel the cyclical war trap.  The combination of steady pacing and condemning content in “The Vast War Complex” makes for an easy comparison with the EpiFat legacy roster, which nominates them natural candidates for the Dang!Records family today. 

As one might expect, vocal harmonies shape the album’s overall mood, but it’s the razor tipped guitar work that helps turn heads towards Castoff.  “Catharsis” in particular draws upon big metal edged guitar riffs to meet each desperate lyric.  Likewise, the shredded metal chords playing out “Past is Past,” and poison tipped introduction of “Revision” earn them some serious Strung Out street cred.  Combined with an insightful vocabulary, The Dividing Line perks ears with various lyrics and bridges.

Of course all first efforts can stand for some fine-tuning, and a few small points of improvements play alongside their successes.  The vocal production could use some cleaning up, and Bill H. would benefit from digging deeper to really drive home some of the most pressing lyrics.  As it stands, super melodic tracks with layers of vocal harmonies (ie. “Long Way Home”) tend to exist on a flat frequency with very few instances of heightened expression.  Even Greg Graffin’s (Bad Religion) relatively consistent style works because of all the bumps and jumps.

Otherwise, The Dividing Line is exactly what you want from a band trying their hand in the melodic punk rock game.  Fast, furious and tunefully smooth, Castoff is worth the introduction for fans of this long running genre.