Youth Decay – The Party’s Over

When seasoned musicians start a new band, you’re never quite sure about what’ll happen. In this case Youth Decay made a record that transcends genres and sets a pretty high bar. The band’s impressive line-up which might have something to do with that. Stu Mckillop (Daggermouth/Aspirations) on vocals,  Dana Edwards (Carpenter) on bass, Loren Legare (Living With Lions) on drums and finally with both Stu Ross and Benjamin Gibbs (Comeback Kid/Living With Lions – the Grave Life) on guitar.

The Party’s Over, the first full length of Youth Decay,  is a solid album filled with melodic, fast and angry punk rock. In my book, that’s always a winning combination. Opening track Balance exemplifies the strength of this band and grabs you by the throat from the start. It combines a poppy chorus with heavy guitar parts. Hysteria is another song that has all the elements that make me love this album: trenchant guitar riffs, epic sing a long vocals and a hard as nails overall sound.

Little Winnepeg has got the be the hit single on The Party’s Over. It’s catchy and anthemic, and reminds of some of Strike Anywhere‘s best songs. Making The Party’s Over the album’s title track is an interesting choice. It’s the song you would put in a set list to catch a breath, and much slower compared to the other songs on the album. Think Frank Carter acoustic. Pot vs. Kettle and Slow Clap are straight up hardcore tunes.

This album has some excellent songs and explores the boundaries of hardcore, punk rock and pop punk which makes it hard to put it under just one of those labels. There are bands doing similar things of course but not quite the same. It’s hard to please everyone when you make a record that touches so many bases, but Youth Decay did a hell of a job convincing me. Check out The Party’s Over and I’m sure you will be too.