Teen Idols – Nothing To Prove

Kevin, Phillip, Heather and Matt, the four people behind the Nashville punk band, Teen Idols, have given the punk community their fourth full length album. This time they are sporting a deferent label’s logo on the back of their album, they are no longer part of the Honest Don’s/Fat Wreck Chords roster, but have opted to join the Fueled By Ramen family for this release. A 12 song pop-rock ride through the creations of this talented quartet.

Opening the album is “Backstabber”, a slightly harsh song with lyrics like “Someone here is a two face liar” and “shaking one hand, while the other one’s twisting the knife”. This gives you a somewhat false impression as to what to come in the upcoming 11 tracks. The rest of the songs all portray a  much happier feeling, while still not being incredibly happy with a “everything is perfect” attitude. Catchy guitars riffs and bass melodies intertwine with the drumming tactics of Matt fill up each song and gets your foot taping. One thing which I believe they could work on is the vocals. Kevin is the lead vocalist with Phillip and Heather backing him up. Athough the three separate vocalists give the band a novel touch, one of the main problems on this record is that the vocals lack the emotion of some other bands in the genre. Although they are somewhat catchy, the vocals are constantly at the same tone; which becomes monotone after a while. The band needs to spice it every once in a while, make the vocals more powerful instead of always been overpowered by the instruments.

“Nothing To Prove” is an album which all old fans of the Teen Idols will truly enjoy, and may even hook on a couple new ones. But if you never liked the band, or detest the pop-punk sound, then stay away from this album as it will come nowhere near to changing your attitude towards the band or the genre.