There’s absolutely nothing wrong with This Is My Honesty, let me get that clear. Their Iain Wetherell-produced pop punk is relatively catchy and presses a number of melodic buttons when it comes to this type of music. The thing is, when you play a brand of pop-punk that’s more pop than punk, you need to make sure your melodies and harmonies have more hooks than Peter Pan’s arch nemesis in panto season. And the problem TIMH face is that they’re just not catchy enough.
This four tracker does show plenty of promise. ‘I eat green berets for breakfast’ and ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ are two crunchy tracks which remind me a little of early Fastlane – a little rough around the edges but clearly on the right lines. And while there are elements to all of the songs which show the band are doing the right thing, they just lack that killer touch; a certain x-factor which bands need if they are going to take things to the next level. So while there’s talent here, and evidence This Is My Honesty can go on to better things, they’re not quite there yet. A promising debut, but still plenty of work to be done.