I was beginning to think the art of fast and furious skate punk had died, but thankfully I’ve been proved wrong. All Or Nothing are damn good, but there’s enough potential here to suggest they could be damn great. Having seen them live there’s talent and confidence in abundance, now all they need is a recording that’s not rushed and littered with mistakes to back it up. Then we’ll see a band that can storm up the UK skate -punk leagues faster than Wigan in the FA Premier League. AON have a set of songs that would make some of the UK’s premier exports of this type of music slackjawed and this EP acts as a very nice showcase.
The Brum lads like their music fast, hard and littered with catchy singalongs. So this seven-tracker, weighing in at 22 minutes, comes across like a little old-skool Allister with some old-skool Fall Out Boy riffs, but with heavier, more impassioned vocals. ‘Analogies and Metaphors Part One: Analogies’ sets the tone very nicely with guitar licks peeled off with ease and a fantastic break down part which I can imagine is a real live favourite. ‘0121 Whipped’ is great, but for me the best track here is the thundering ‘On the Run From John Law Ain’t No Trip To Cleveland’, which has pretty much everything you want from a punk song – fast drums, guitar riffs coming out of your ears and a chorus to die for.
All Or Nothing only encounter problems because some of the songs are a little long (‘On The Run…’ needs to be cut by 30 seconds), the vocals sometimes stray a little out of tune and there’s an overall feeling this is slightly rushed. But these are minor problems, because if you’re a band with the best production in the world and no songs, you will get nowhere. AON are the opposite – they have a clutch of great songs and I really think they have some potential. Check these guys out over at their myspace page and make up your own minds, but I feel there’s enough talent here to make an impact.
www.aonpunk.tk
www.myspace.com/allornothingpunk
paul