Californian punk rockers Pennywise have released their ninth full length album titled Reason To Believe under the still fairly new MySpace Records. This is the first time the band has not released material under the punk rock Epitaph records. Reason To Believe was actually available for free for a short time on MySpace if they added Textango (an online site that you can buy music from using your cellphone) as a friend.
Pennywise is a band name I have known for years and it is no wonder. They have been around for twenty years. My first taste of them was 1995’s About Time and I was lucky enough to see them live soon after at one of the Vans Warped Tours in the mid-nineties. They have a solid punk rock sound that is not too over the edge but not considered poppy. Millions of fans all over the world have considered these guys major figures in the punk rock world.
The band consists mostly of high school chums and has had a pretty concrete line-up with some members leaving and then rejoining in the early years of the band. In 1996 one of the original band members chose to leave the band to try and win his battle over alcoholism but tragically took his own life. While it was a huge distress to the band and fans, Pennywise continued going on and even recorded a tribute song for their departed friend properly titled “Bro Hymn”.
Opening the CD is the powerful “(Intro) As Long As We Can” a track that seems to be declaring Pennywise still has it after all these years. The song is just bad ass with hard lyrics and wound up guitars.
Following the opener was the heavier “One Reason” with thrash-like sounds alongside singing looking for a perfectly good reason for some sort of uncalled event. “Faith & Hope” had a catchy feel to it but I just felt it could have used added a few more group vocals in between verses.
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