MXPX – Secret Weapon

Secret Weapon was supposed to be MXPX’s triumphant return to the forefront of pop-punk. With over a dozen releases and more than a decade as a band together, MXPX has seen its fair share of ups and downs. After building a steady fan base on Tooth & Nail, the band’s little foray into the majors left some fans with a sour taste in their mouth – particularly after the overly glossy Before Everything & After. The band quickly remedied that as they dropped back down to the minors to release Panic on SideOneDummy Records. An announcement soon followed saying that they rekindled their relationship with Tooth & Nail Records. Instinctively, people got excited: one of the most prominent pop-punk acts of the modern era was returning to their original stomping grounds and it will be glorious.

That was, at least, what people thought. The reality is, Secret Weapon is oddly disappointing. While light years better than Before Everything & After, it still feels slightly forced. The album starts off incredibly strong with the title track which is a shimmer into the glory days of the band and they follow that up with the heavy drum driven track, Shut Down full to the rims of “woahs” and gang vocals; but it soon starts to slow down and drag on as the record progresses. The songs merge into one another and excluding a few circumstances, never really jump at the listener.

With sixteen songs and clocking in at over fifty minutes Secret Weapon is just too long. It’s not that the songs are overtly bad, in fact, it’s better pop-punk than most being released with Mike’s vocals hitting the right pitch and not becoming whiny and some of the fastest drumming Yuri has done in a while; but the songs are all too similar to one another. The production is too smooth and the songs run into one another all too soon. A few songs, such as Chop Shop and Punk Rawk Celebrity thanks to their gang vocals and sheer catchiness/diversity respectively, are able to step above the others and really stand out; but those moments come too few and far between leaving an immense gap in the middle where songs are too polished, too similar and consequently, too forgettable.

The record was supposed to be MXPX’s comeback, but it falls short. It’s still good as it is heavier, faster and more diverse than their last few releases but at the same time, it drowns in its own content as the songs themselves are too similar and carry no real punch to them other than on a select few tracks. Plus, at over fifty minutes, Secret Weapons is too long for a pop-punk record.

However, it’s still better than the emo stuff being spat out left, right and centre these days.