More Pop Punk from Descendents

Descendents are back with their first recording in 18 years. I’ve always been amazed by their ability to switch from hardcore punk to catchy pop melody, seemingly at the flip of a switch. With Hypercaffium Spazzinate we get the same anger, emotion, humor and catchy, hook-laden pop punk (at breakneck speed, of course).

Every time I hear a Descendents album for the first time, I look for the songs written by Bill Stevenson. Milo Aukerman, Stephen Egerton’s and Karl Alvarez all write great material, too. But if you like your pop at breakneck speed and with killer hooks, then Stevenson is your guy. And you’d have to look far and wide to find a better drummer.

With that said, Karl Alvarez authored the clever “On Paper” and co-wrote (with Egerton) the very catchy “Shameless Halo”, a song that will remind folks of some of those great ’90’s pop punk singles by ALL. ALL consisted of these same band members minus Milo Aukerman. They released one of the great records of the 90’s, a pop punk masterpiece called “Breaking Things”.

One of the highlights is Milo Aukerman’s “Smile”, the impetus for which was a letter he’d written to Bill Stevenson as the drummer was battling some serious health issues.

The best tracks on the disc for me are the – you guessed it – Stephenson penned songs “Spineless and Scarlet Red” and “Without Love”, the latter being as catchy a pop song as you’ll hear all year.

Get Hypercaffium Spazzinate HERE.