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A split usually involves two bands showcasing a few songs so that fans of one band can be introduced to another. A three way split is pretty rare, at least to me, but I’m all for throwing in an extra band. The three bands on this split are Jet Market (Italy), Part Time Killer (Finland) and Burning Fiction (Australia.) They all contribute four songs each in exactly 35 minutes.
I’m not familiar with the band Burning Fiction but from the first track “Mindhead” they got me intrigued. The skatepunk evidence is all there. The fast beat, the melodic vocals, rhythmic bass and the driving power chords all sound as good as the pop of an ollie. The second track is slower but still good and I finally figured out who these guys sound like. It’s mostly the voice but I hear a resemblance to now expired aggressive metal/skatepunk band Layaway Plan. The next track is at the same pace as the last and again it is good but just not as good as the first. The final track from Burning Fiction is “The Grip” and it starts at the same pace as the last two but 30 seconds in picks up with some finger tapping solo’s and fires into the fast skatepunk sound I’m looking for. All around not bad but I would say they should of stuck to the same strategy as Layaway Plan and played them all fast.
The next band is one I am looking forward to hearing. I am a fan of Jet Market so I have high expectations for their four songs. “The Truck” immediately is recognizable as a Jet Market song and 15 seconds in to it I have goose bumps. Up next is “Tonight, Tonight” and it’s blazing fast and has a familiar sound to it. NO FUCKING WAY! It’s not until the palm muted picking and vocals that I figure out that the title is not just a coincidence to the Smashing Pumpkins song. Rad is all I can say. I love the original and now here is four Italians giving me a skate punk version of the hit song. They finish strong with the last two tracks making it three solid Jet Market tracks just as good as anything else they have done and one awesome cover song.
The last band is one that gave me slight puzzlement. For a few minutes I thought this was the Austrian punk band Renttokill who have a song called Primetime Killer but no, it’s Part Time Killer who I have never heard of until now. After I straighten it out the chorus of the first song is yelling at me to “Wake up.” Part Time Killer has a more straight up classic punk sound than the other two bands but they have infused it in to their own style of melodic skate punk. The four tracks are all fast and all have singable chant along vocals that make you want to rise up and fight against something like the government, rising beer prices, burnt toast or whatever you’re against.
As a whole Jet Market has the strongest tracks on the split but all the bands bring something to the table that is good in their own way. I ‘m glad that there are three different bands on this split, giving me three different styles of fast melodic punk rock to listen to. I might have never heard of Part Time Killer and Burning Fiction if it weren’t for Jet Market.