Static Radio NJ – One For The Good Guys

The first time I saw/heard of Static Radio N.J. they were the opening band for a heavily anticipated tour hitting Edmonton. That tour featured none other than the famed Bouncing Souls alongside The Loved Ones and Strike Anywhere; and, of course, the aforementioned Static Radio N.J.. With a lineup like that, you can safely assume that the one band you don’t know will be pretty impressive or else there’s no way they’d score a spot like that. At the same time though, the band has a lot of ground to cover to impress the fans. When Static Radio N.J. did play, they were pretty good. Despite being overshadowed by the bigger bands on the bill, they were still rather impressive.

You see, Static Radio NJ built upon the already stellar reputation of New Jersey’s local music scene and played a Lifetime-esque hardcore sound. Their EP, One For The Good Guys captures that sound in 7 blistering tracks that fly by in a mere nine minutes and fourty-two seconds. The songs are fast and hard, playing along the same lines as The Shook Ones, Kid Dynamite and even Strike Anywhere at times. With gang vocals and incredibly fast drumming, the songs are intense and energetic, a throwback to mid-nineties emo/hardcore.

Unfortunately, it is those same qualities that make the CD so good that also hinders the album in the end. For you see, even though the songs are really good, it’s as if they’re all following the same pattern. The songs are straight forward hardcore and at times you yearn for something more. Only a select few tracks, like All The Same with it’s closing breakdown and chant and the album closer Who’s Laughing Nowwhich features a heavy Shook Ones similarity and a breakdown which shows some slight diversity in their sound, are able to really stand out in the mix. The rest of the album seems to be churning out the same sound over and over again; and then suddenly, less than ten minutes later, it’s over and you’re wondering what happened.

Still, even without a mass amount of originality backing them, One For The Good Guys is a solid foundation for Static Radio N.J. to build upon and I won’t be afraid to check out what else they release in the future.