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The Get Up Kids Guilt Show Released in 2004 3.6/10 Styles Pop Punk Punk Rock Song Highlights Man of Conviction Never Be Alone In Your Sea |
With Guilt Show, their fourth release, The Get Up Kids deliver 13 tracks of poppy, sensitive, new age punk. The album gets off to a promising start with the blatantly NOFX-influenced track "Man of Conviction." With its jackhammer strumming and snappy vocals, it's a great start which gets the listener into the mood for some thrashy fun. However, there's no more fun to be found on Guilt Show. Once the minute-and-a-half opener has run its course, the album settles into a more mature routine, dominated by plenty of serious-minded lyrics. Musically, Guilt Show is loaded with the upbeat guitars, synth touches and drums that always sound better live than on CD. Vocalist Matt Pryor is quite the charismatic lead, with his scratchy voice and easily identifiable vocal style. The group sound best when he's turning on the charm (on tracks like "Never Be Alone" and "In Your Sea") rather than the pensive introspection. The Get Up Kids end up sounding like they don't really know what they're trying to acheive with "Guilt Show." The album tries to be accessable, alternative and true-to-its-punk-roots all at once. It's that sort of music that's less thrashy than punk, more punk than rock and more indie than pop. It's the no-man's land of bands who can't decide whether they want to be punk, emo, pop-punk or straight rock. A punk-enthusiast friend of mine described it as "the album you give to your 14 year old sister." As such, the album is solid, but really hard to actually care about. If you're into this type of music it'd probably be a decent addition to your collection, just don't expect it to stand out in the crowd. |