Exclamation
Chin Up!
Chin Up! describe themselves as "a positive-pop-punk band". I'm not entirely sure about the pop-part, but it's definitely punk. They say: "We're all about spreading positivity, having fun and doing your best even when it feels like life, the world and even your own body is fighting against you."
Well, as soon as they messaged us about the album, I went on to TiDAL to give them a listen. I do get some album review requests from bands or artists that aren't really good (or not my cup of tea) and I politely decline. Let's say: the fact that you're reading this is good news.
The album starts strong with Straight to the point. The song is 26 seconds, so I think everything has been said about that song.
The second song, or the first real song in some sense, is called Premature rigor mortis. "Although I feel like a corpse today, nothing will stand in my way," is exactly the type of optimism they were talking about. Good song. I feel that way whenever I've been to the gym, so I see where they're coming from.
Let's move on to No one like me. This is probably a bit more poppy than the previous songs, but not straying very far from the punk rock roots. It's musically interesting. Where punk sometimes has a tendency to become a little bit boring, they know how to use breaks and other musical tricks to keep the tension in the song.
The ballad of burnt pizza. It's nice to see people using the original spelling of burnt. And again, a really catchy song. The whole premise of this song is actually that the band members almost burnt their flat down. Kind of reminds me of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple, even though I'm pretty sure that there were no flare guns involved here.
I am pretty sure I can hear some Bowling For Soup as well as some Toy Dolls inspiration. And I say inspiration, because it's certainly not a copy by any stretch of the imagination. These guys have a very own style and I don't want to take anything away from that. I'm just saying: if you like those bands, I can't imagine a world where you wouldn't like Chin Up!
Sunbathing in the rain sounds like a proper Scottish song by the title alone. When listening to it, I'm pretty sure there's some Ska influence here. Maybe that's Minches, the featured artist? Let's see if they said anything about it: "We've pulled from our friends in the Scottish alt scene for some guest spots on this one. Bonnie Ross (David Delinquent & the IOU's) on Saxophone, Davie Snakes (The Guillotines) on Trumpet & Trombone, and 8-bit-pop-metal-rapper Minches for some guest vocals." Well, that solves that mystery.
Short fuse is short. Damn it's short. It's really short. Like, 4 seconds short. Coming to think of it, with just two of these really short filler songs, they've turned an EP into an album. Very clever, lads. Very clever.
That's a peddlin' is a real punkrock song. At times it reminds me of Green Day. I mean, it doesn't sound anything like Green Day, don't get me wrong, but the timing is very much alike. At this point in my listening journey, I'm pretty sure these guys are on to something. They're really good and it's not an album with nine songs that sound exactly the same.
Drive feels a lot more of a personal song, a bit like Premature rigor mortis in context, not in sound.
And then finally there is Bring out your dead. An awesome song inspired by the famous Monty Python sketch. The question is: have Chin Up! found the holy grail?
Well, let's talk about that. The album is short, but very good. As I said, they've turned an EP into an album by technicality, but an album sounds a lot better than an EP so I get it.
I actually found myself enjoying this review. And even though they have 350 monthly listeners on Spotify, they have exactly 0 fans on TiDAL. After me clicking "Follow", they now have 1. Let me be the first of many. These guys deserve a bigger spotlight.
If you live in Scotland, be sure to check out their live shows. A little birdie told me they've even managed to get into a couple of local festivals and even a metal line-up. Next time I'm in Scotland, I'll definitely be checking their tour dates.
