Illinois pop-punkers The Copyrights are back with album number six and their fourth on home label Red Scare Industries. Coming a long three years after the band’s impressive 2011 North Sentinel Island release and hot on the heels of their Fat Wreck Chords vinyl debut and successful tour with punk legends 7 Seconds the stars seem to be aligning for The Copyrights, a band who have won fans over throughout their decade long existence with their own style of perpetually catchy punk rock.
While previous album North Sentinel Island was itself a step up in quality and songwriting from previous efforts, Report again raises that bar further with every track managing to deliver near instant melodic gratification. The Copyrights have always had a knack of writing great pop-punk without the saccharine ethos some bands employ and Report keeps up that trend with no filler, just an album jam packed full of memorable singalongs.
There are a few songs amongst Report’s fourteen tracks that will already be familiar to some: ”No Knocks” the album’s lead single sounds blissfully at home amongst Report’s equally catchy track-list. In truth most songs on Report could have been the album’s first single along with ”Keep The Change”, the album’s shortest song at a minute long and one that also featured on the ”No Knocks” single released last month on Fat Wreck. A slightly reworked version of ”The New Frontier” that featured previously on a 4 way split a few years ago is a great example of catchy and pacey pop-punk; After several listens to Report It’s near impossible to choose a favourite song but ”The New Frontier” has had its nose ahead on several occasions. After that the highlights come thick and fast and all in insanely catchy sub three minute blasts. From first track ”Slider” which opens proceedings in typical Copyrights style, to songs like ”Fireworks”, ”Wishbone” and ”Stuck In The Fall” which all grab hold and refuse to not be sung for the remainder of the day. Every single track amounts to Report being a veritable pop-punk triumph.
The album’s cohesive feel is greatly aided by stellar production work from The All American Reject’s Mike Kennerty, where like his production on Direct Hit’s apocalyptic opus Brainless God, he ensures each song’s energy drives the album forward with minimal let up.
If you’re already a fan of The Copyrights then this album will absolutely reinforce that love you feel; And if you’re not a fan after giving Report a listen then you likely never will be. There are lots of great punk bands around just now and to this writer The Copyrights are amongst those leading the charge. In a world where so much is going wrong it’s great to listen to albums like Report and forget about it all for a while; taking in the constant stream of melody, hooks and harmony, it’s a tried, tested and now improved band formula that has invigorated another fourteen tracks in The Copyright’s already impressive arsenal. There are many ways to spend half an hour, most of which aren’t nearly as enjoyable as listening to Report, enjoy!
Report is due out on August 26th via Red Scare Industries.
5/5 Stars