With chugging guitar riffs, catchy vocal melodies and enough break downs to keep the RAC in business, the debut EP from Staten Island’s When It Counts is a cracking effort.
‘Moving Up’ starts at break neck speed, catching your attention immediately and never outstaying it’s welcome. It’s straight up harmonised pop-punk with no frills and that’s exactly what When It Counts are all about. ‘Hey Lance’ is more of the same – sharp, not particularly ingenious, youthful excitement wrapped up within three minutes.
From there ‘Ignorance’ has an awesome chorus and great use of gang vocals, even if we have heard similar approaches before. Then ‘Late To Your Own Bonfire’, running at a colossal 4 minutes 40 in comparison, is perfectly listenable without really excelling before ‘Take A Breath’ closes the EP out by smashing through a sweet instrumental bridge.
I have plenty of time for bands who think outside the box and really take you on a musical journey with their releases. At the same time I love bands who know their audience and nail the basics like When It Counts have.
These five self released tracks are very reminiscent of bands like Hit The Lights and earlier Set Your Goals, which is a good thing. ‘The Same Old Story’ is clearly a very apt title for this EP too as essentially When It Counts have borrowed heavily from the pop-punk play book. It’s great fun though and well worth your £1.50 on Bandcamp.
TOM BECK