Elder Abuse – Born To Lose

Winnipeg is home to such punk rock standouts as Propaghandi and the Weakerthans—and, more recently, to Elder Abuse; a new band which seems to be making a bit of noise on the Canadian punk scene. Even though the boys of Elder Abuse share stomping grounds with the legendary acts, the similarities largely stop there.

The group formed in 2012, and Born to Lose is their debut LP—with all the rough edges and enthusiasm one would expect on a first release. The eagerness expresses itself with a coarse voice on the edge of blowing out, accompanied by equally shouted harmonies. Unfortunately, some of the urgency and power stirred up by the fieriest vocal moments of the album are frequently doused by unfortunate cracks and painful pitch disasters that are impossible to ignore.

The musicianship is solid and well-executed, and the song structures and style are reminiscent of today’s edgier pop-punk acts ala Direct Hit! or the Copyrights. However, where those two bands—as well as this band’s hometown heavyweights mentioned earlier—have a keen ear for composition, Elder Abuse shows their inexperience by starting several good melodic ideas then just leaving them unfinished- something akin to a musical premature ejaculation.

Perhaps these boys should put less effort into abusing their elders and focus their energies on learning from them instead.