Boston’s A Crash Republic have been around in one form or another since 2008, their middle school days. A couple of the guys studied music at fancy pants universities then they reconvened, found themselves a drummer and self-record, produced and released Homewrecker: Sweet Apathy. The EP is the beginning of a trilogy, chronicling the main protagonist’s embracing of counterculture and (presumably) dropping out of ‘normal’ society. The theme is evident without becoming all consuming in case you are not quite ready for another immersive sci-fi saga complete with comic books, novels and masks (ahem Coheed, we’re looking at you).
Stylistically, this falls loosely under the pop punk banner however that is such a limiting term nowadays. Vocals are shared between Nick Tello and Andrew Sullivan, one snotty ala Devon Williams from Osker and the other a more typical Bostonian/Dropkick Murphys style. The trading back and forth works really well as does the combo of the two in the frequent harmonies. There is a strong metal influence which shines through at every opportunity with Dragonforce-esque twiddling riffs and Steve Rehm’s blast beats getting in on the action too. There’s even a tasty bit of a cappella to close out proceedings at the end of “Watch Your Luck”.
This is a really strong debut, it’s very well produced with catchy and layered tunes that combine into an extremely cohesive 6 song introduction to the world of A Crash Republic. You can check out a stream of the entire release over at New Noise and also on streaming services. Roll on part 2!
4.5/5