I had high hopes for this release. With the likes of ‘Don’t Trust That Girl’ and ‘Only You’, Ace Troubleshooter have proved they can come up trumps with perky pop-punk anthems drenched in melody, all while having the accelerator pedal pressed flat to the floor. Their new record, ‘It’s Never Enough‘, also looked good after ‘Ball & Chain’ was released via Pure Volume – so impressed was I that I went down to the punk rock shop and purchased the disc. Sadly those initial hopes were quickly wiped out because on the whole this is disappointing.
Things start really well; ‘Ball & Chain’ is great, while ‘Anything’ is fantastic, chugging away with some ace vocal melodies. But as the songs go on the production, which is particularly tinny, begins to grate and the ideas begin to run dry. For starters Ace Troubleshooter have decided to pop out of fifth gear and only step things up on a few songs. For the most part we’re left with mid-tempo plodders that fail to set the world alight. I guess it’s similar to my gripes with the new MxPx record, and while I can understand why a band might want to try something a little different, some of the songs here don’t sound like Ace Troubleshooter; it’s just like their identity may have disappeared a tad.
Having said that, the first half of this record promises so much. ‘Jasmine’ is predictable but fun nonetheless, while ‘Make It Right’ and the cute ‘Seaside’are also listenable. Things start to go downhill by the final bars of ‘Turn Around’, a track which is decent enough but horribly inoffensive. Things tend to go down the rock rather than punk route, with ‘Helen Burns’ turgid and dull and ‘Tempest’ lacking in ideas. ‘Don’t Do It Again’ harks back to the old days, but even then it sounds a little forced and the production, which is neither rough nor sparkling, adds little to proceedings.
‘It’s Never Enough‘ starts off so well but slowly falls by the wayside. A good record without ever threatening to be great, it’s a little more, dare I say it, ‘grown up’ than their older material. If you’re a fan of the band then I’d probably suggest you get this, but there’s nothing new or exciting to welcome too many new fans, which is a real pity.
www.acetroubleshooter.com
Tooth and Nail Records
Paul