Serpico - Serpico E.P.

Serpico describe themselves as “punk metal”, and list Metallica, Slayer and Iron Maiden amongst their influences. Don't be fooled though, almost everything about their songs – the vocals, the rhythms, the arrangement, the harmonies – are pure pop-punk. The only thing that seems influenced by metal is the production, particularly the sound of the guitars and drums; a guitar solo on one track and the verse on another, a sequence of minor chords on an acoustic guitar with a piano melody on top, though it's much more nu-metal than New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Now that I've got that out the way I can get on with reviewing the songs. 400 Blows to the Head opens with some absolutely massive power chords before quickly diving back down again into a pretty standard 4-chord punk verse. The song then goes into a pre-chorus that ends with a half-time beat the leads nicely into the anthemic chorus, the kind of chorus The Offspring might have done if they'd had those amps that go to eleven. The whole thing then repeats, except of course that the second time around you know the chorus so you can sing along while you bounce up and down. The song finishes with a fairly decent solo that complements the song well but seems too low down in the mix, I suspect the huge guitar sound is overpowering it. Overall a great song if you want some straight-out, pop-punk music to jump up and down to.

Next up is Alkaline Nights, which has the instantly-singable chorus:
“Acid days and alkaline nights / popping pills and getting into fights.”. This song is a lot more sophisticated than 400 Blows to the Head with more interesting chord structures, some nice licks on the bass, a nice guitar solo over a backing which changes tempo, a well-executed break at the end where everything except the vocals drop out for 2 bars, and most of all that great chorus.

Glasseye is a change of direction, opening with acoustic guitar, delayed electric guitar, bass, strings and even a tubular bell. The guitars, bass and drums set an almost “chilled” mood, but the strings set a suspenseful tone which lends it an air of tension. The singer here seems to be right at the bottom of his range and isn't as comfortable with this more moody section as he was belting out the high-energy sing-along choruses. Luckily for him, the distorted guitars kick in and we're back into familiar pop-punk chorus territory, though this one feels somewhat lacking compared to their other efforts. Back to the verse and back to the moody section, though this time with the addition of an atmospheric piano counter-melody that works well. Another chorus and then for some reason the singer does an impersonation of Peter Steele from the band Type O Negative. In fact the whole song seems like it might be what a goth-doom band might sound like if a pop-punk did the choruses... Anyway, the song ends with a guitar solo over some interesting chord changes that make the song sound like it's about to change direction, but then it ends.

With Kultura we are back to the anthemic pop-punk this band do so well. The song is built around a simple but effective two note riff that blasts in right at the start and gets you jumping, then drops out again for just long enough to let you catch your breath so you can sing the chorus when that killer riff comes crashing back in. Then, just in case anyone wasn't fired-up there's a long snare roll where the singer get everyone excited, before a big reverberant guitar solo comes in. It's not a flashy solo, it's strong enough to inject even more energy into the song, but holds back enough to avoid drowning out the singer.

Overall a good record. If you're a metal fan you'll likely find the riffs too simple, the guitar solos too slow and the vocal sound too pop-like. However if you're looking for some heavied-up pop-punk that you can bounce around to while shouting along with the lyrics, this is definitely a band to check out.

www.myspace.com/serpicoband