1. My Shame
2. On the Road
3. Coming Home
4. Call to Arms
5. Want You More
6. Inside of a Monster
7. All Alone
8. I’m Sorry
9. Burning Down
10. Threshold

I’ve heard some good things about Low Value, so my expectations here were pretty high. I wasn’t disappointed. With all the Millencolin and Hi-Standard influences, especially within the vocal style, Low Value certainly stick to the skatepunk roots with some bits of technical guitar work, screams (at least in “My Shame”) and chock full of double-time drummery.

“Coming Home” is certainly one of the most euphoric tunes (although with an effective juxtaposition of sad lyrics) I’ve heard for a while, with killer verses and even killerer (?) choruses. The guitar solos are nothing if not original and each lead line has a unique personality, whether it’s the bendy, smooth silliness of the one in “On the Road”, the metal-influenced divebombing discords in “Call to Arms” or the Strung Out style double-tapping in “Want You More”.

Some of their tracks are a tad long and over-the-top, and Low Value don’t quite regain the energy and punch they blasted out in “My Shame” through the rest of the album, but it’s an enjoyable, full-length that is certainly high value.

www.myspace.com/lowvalue

1. 99
2. Sweater Weather
3. Songs for a Rainy Day
4. Winnetka & Heart
5. Unspoken
6. Promenade
7. Touch my Heart
8. Nanny
9. Valiant
10. One Day at a Time

Well I don’t normally do this – reviewing tracks from an online stream, but let’s see how it goes.  Jacuzzi Fiend dub themselves as a “speed-emo” band, which I can’t say exactly fills me with excitement, although perhaps intrigue.  “99″ begins with a bit of piano before rocking in with the skatepunk, overlaid by loved-up lyrics (ah so that’s what they meant by speed-emo).  The whole track is pretty monotone, and for one which is heading towards 8 minutes long to use 4 chords stretches my patience an awful lot and doesn’t leave enough room for the vocal melody to vary.  This is a problem that transcends to many of their other songs.

“Song for a Rainy Day” is structured similarly to “99″, and even includes some Van Halen type finger tapping, although, just like on “99″, it goes on too long and is awkward to listen to because it’s so out of time with the backing.

Gosh these songs are long, most of them so far are past the 5 minute mark and include way too much instrumental stuff that largely consists of simple chord sequences and a basic lead guitar or something over the top.  Some of their sounds remind me of MxPx’s early days, especially “Unspoken”; the difference being that MxPx would have finished their songs after about 2m30s at the most, but Jacuzzi Fiend seem intent on stringing them out way longer than necessary.  They’ve got a lot of good ideas in their music, but they’re all so far apart, it’s like eating a massive pizza with a couple of tiny bits of really nice cheese and tomato and the rest is a standard base.  I mean I love a double speed drumbeat as much as the next skatepunker, but this is so relentless I can’t wait until each track finishes.

With some great editing, these 10 very long tracks could become 4 or 5 short and awesome tracks I’m certain.  One of the main reasons I like punk rock is that I have a short attention span and this makes me tense and frustrated.

www.myspace.com/jacuzzifiend

State of Mine
1. Opening Sequence
2. Conspiracy Earth
3. Burnout
4. How to Survive Emocore
5. Last Chance to Dance
The Octopussys
1. Burger Kiing
2. Succubus
3. Burning Calories is Bad for Business
4. State of Emergency
5. I Fucked Up Again

Once the dull instrumental of the “Opening Sequence” is out the way, we’re actually onto some fun skatepunk provided by Belgium’s State of Mine, hitting us with decent political lyrics over a tight backing with plenty of jumps and syncopations. The single-string lead guitar over a lot of the chord sequences sounds very No Use For a Name-like and really rings of the 90s, and is maybe a little overdone as the lack of a second guitar leaves the sound a bit thin in places. The vocals have a great edge to them, like early Guttermouth or Jughead’s Revenge and even the backing harmonies sound raw without too much shine and polish.

The Octopussys (also from Belgium) take the second half of the album with something a lot more poppy, a bit like the Donots or Vanilla Pod, but with slightly more self-depreciative lyrics despite the superficial jollity of the overall sound of most of the tracks. I must admit though, their tracks were washing over me somewhat until I heard “State of Emergency” which really blew me away, with its different mood and technical soloing not unlike A Wilhelm Scream.

A good fun split album, to compare the bands would be like apples and oranges because they’re both pretty different, but I’m sure if you like one, you’ll like the other. There’s a lot of promise from both bands and still a fabulously raw feel to it all.

www.myspace.com/stateofminebe
www.myspace.com/theoctopussys

1. Villain
2. Honor, Not Pride
3. All Because of You
4. Hanging Up
5. Lost Control
6. Bridges and Breakdowns
7. Sick of It all
8. PSA
9. Sitting Down Drinking Beer
10. Deciding
11. Numbers
12. Scarlet Letter
13. The Fight
14. Gone Before You Know
15. [secret track]

The Down and Outs begin the album with an old-fashioned 90s style of skatepunk with simple chord sequences and tunes, shiny vocal harmonies and a touch of ska, not unlike early Millencolin or even 88 Fingers Louie. So I was listening to the first half of this album and pretty much the only things that crossed my mind were “yeah, skatepunk!”, “this song is quite long” and “hmm, their style is quite nice”

The Public Service Announcement in the middle of the album confused me a bit, I thought I was listening to Spotify and one of their adverts had kicked in, until I realised the sheer randomness and non-sequitur nature of the content.

After the PSA, the album improved considerably, with a few short riotous songs and some edgier Bigwig style power, altogether a lot more creativity and variation in the songs, some standout bass riffs and classic little jumps and chugs in the rhythm. It felt like I’d listened to a split album of two artists, and while not much really grabbed me on the first half, there were many more times on the second half that made me think “hey, that was fucking cool!”.

www.thedownandouts.com