Campaign-Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! EP
Following in the footsteps of Four Year Strong and The Wonder Years but with a greater sense of post-hardcore rather than beatdowns and pop-punk, Campaign are looking like a force to be reckoned with in the current uprising of emotive 'beardcore' rock. 'Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!' is a brief but assertive four-track EP that blends the lighter side of post-hardcore with the soulful dynamics of The Gaslight Anthem. It's strong stuff that should see them reach a wider audience.
With the four tracks comprised taking on a concept of sorts and moving through different musical shades, opener Old Haunts is straight-up melodic hardcore featuring a rumbling bass-line and a classic 'woah-oh' refrain around a gruffly tuneful vocal. It sets the EP up well and leaves you interested if not totally convinced of what the band are all about. Follow-up Old Thrills well and truly smashes that ambivalence though, taking things slightly heavier with resounding guitars set to a furious punk pace before leading into an unexpected fading outro of noisy feedback and dramatic atmospherics. It's as if Rise Against were covering Lifetime.
Old Blues has a feel of the Ramones with its traditionally punk backbone and lyrics like 'I've had enough and I'm giving up' echoing the disillusioned and disappointed. Saving the best until last though, final track Old Mess is the most intense the EP gets. Stop-starting post-hardcore riffs pierce the eardrums while, through an unrelentingly passionate vocal delivery, bruised lyrics fly forward like thrown daggers with 'play this close to the chest, take no chances' and 'grew up too fast...now that heart of stone could never come home alone' possessing a particularly endearing quality in their anguish. Thrice-like searing guitars come to the fore-front as the song reaches its conclusion in a powerful cacophony before suddenly cutting out like a motorbike having its engine gently turned off.
Admittedly, the band don't stray from the path much at all throughout the EP's four tracks and certainly play to a well-used formula. However that being said, this is only a small stop-gap and holds enough quality to make their album proper a very intriguing prospect. Certainly ones to keep an eye on.