Useless I.D. – Symptoms

I’ve always viewed Useless ID as the b-list counterpart to 90’s pop-punk acts bands like No Use For A Name (their band name doesn’t do them any favours either).  While the band’s lengthy career might suggest otherwise, their seventh full length, Symptoms, only reinforces my viewpoint.  Now don’t get me wrong, Symptoms makes a case for the band’s eighteen-year career – not only is it the band’s most polished work to date, but it’s pretty damn catchy to boot – but most songs still exist in the far reaching shadow cast by their influences and peers.

Before I get too deep though, the major flaw in my argument is that there’s not really anything missing, and my opinion comes rooted deep in my gut as opposed to from discernable exemplars.  Steady melodic tempo?  Check.  Catchy choruses?  Check.  Successful vocal style?  Check.  Some have criticized the band’s “maturation” and recent turn to darker, slower time signatures, but I see the change in the opposite light, with the menacing atmosphere working more to the band’s strengths.  Instead, the shortcomings are simply omni-present dampers that never ruin songs, yet prevent me from truly embracing most tracks without that hint of nagging doubt rooted deep in the back of my mind.

But I digress, Symptoms is by and large a success.  The overall feeling borrows elements of Motion City Soundtrack (as per the pitch perfect energy fueling “Erratic”), The Descendents (check out the semi-off tune melodic vocals on “Erratic”), and of course No Use For A Name (great chorus and punchy guitars of “Mani Depression”).  Only a few stumbling blocks pepper the path as per the radio rock of “Sleeping With Knives” alongside the sleepy choral spirals of the title track.  But otherwise, the quick wit of tunes like “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” and tuneful riffage pummeling songs like “Fear in the Mirror” forward sits well in the moment – I just wish there was a little more consequence or urgency the whole affair.

While Symptoms is far from disappointing – it actually exceeded my expectations based on past experience –Useless ID has still yet to blow me away.  For those that hear what I miss – and that will be most of you – Symptoms will last as one of the year’s great pop-punk treats.  For me though, it lands a tad above average – worth a steady spin from time to time, but inevitably destined for my dusty CD archives in the months ahead.