The Donnas – Gold Medal

After four full lengths and two 7″ vinyl releases, The Donnas broke into the main stream with their 2002 Atlantic Records debut, Spend The Night. They were welcomed with both hate and love. While some critics fell in love for the catchy pop stylings of the quartet, others found it boring and repetive. But in the two years since that last release, The Donnas have done what so many other bands have done this past year: they grew up. No longer stuck behind fake monikers, The Donnas are back with their sixth full length, Gold Medal.

Straight from the opening song of I Don’t Want To Know, you hear the classic Donnas sound, but there is much more diversity in this album. The songs don’t all merge together and blend into one monotonous song over and over again. They are able to piece together guitar riffs that would make some of the biggest rock fans go awe, with catchy vocals to appeal to the teenyboppers. They don’t restrict themselves to a single style or genre either, the album-titled single proves that. Gold Medal, has more of a folklore feel then a rock or pop-punk tune; but somehow it fits between It’s So Hard and Out Of My Hands. The Donnas have crafted an album of much more complexity. The chord changes are more often, and unpredictable, not staying with simple 3 or 4 chords; but it is still The Donnas at heart. Which means some catchy melodies and strong feminine vocals.

Gold Medal is definetly not for everyone; but fans of the up and coming female fronted rock bands wave will fall in love with this as it isn’t only female fronted, it’s entirely composed of girls. Proving once again that it’s not only guys who rule the rock world. It definetely isn’t the “must-have” release of the year, as it does, at times, seem to be missing something. But nonetheless, it is still a strong release of catchy pop-punk and pop-rock tunes that will help get themselves some more fans and garner more respect within the scene.