Orgasmic shake up.
You Me And The Atom Bomb have a slightly American punk sound, although this is not too be confused with either sugary sweet pop-punk like Blink 182, Bowling For Soup, or Simple Plan. Nor should it be confused with the tattoos, Mohawks and bar room brawls of bands like Rancid, Time Again, The F'Ups or The Casualties, no, YMATAB fall somewhere in the middle with hints of bands like The Lawrence Arms, Osker and even flashes of Alkaline Trio.
First song 'Won't Let Go' starts off with some nice riffs before the fast punk drum beat kicks in and you know that this band mean business. You have to pinch yourself to remember that these guys come from Portsmouth – hardly the epicentre of Punk rock – and not California. There is a great thick bass-line and chugging guitars to 'Foot On The Ladder' and tells the story of being at the bottom.
YMATAB get to the end of the corridor of Hardcore without going any further on 'Divided' which is hard and fast with just a drop of melody to keep it from being brash and offensive punk. 'Proud To Say' blasts from the speakers with big swinging balls forcing itself upon the listener with no apologies punk rock. Just like Alkaline Trio there is a hidden depth that upon first listen maybe missed, however when listened over and over it suddenly stands up tall like an audio magic eye picture and you're left open mouthed and thinking 'Fuck?!'
I'm always impressed with a band that only has three members as one member has to deal with an instrument as well as vocals - which I can tell you is no mean feat! So hats off to Tim. 'Lost' has another delightful bass display from Hud, and I have to nod my approval to the production which quite frankly is top draw from Peter Miles – who also produced the great Ska/Folk/Punk band The King Blues, as well as Captain Everything! And Awoken.
You Me And The Atom Bomb give us in the UK some great and somewhat missing Punk that is as much of a musical relief as a hard hand job after hardcore from a pretty girl. I often mumble my dismay at the state of the lukewarm offerings from bands playing indie-by-numbers, and it's enough to make me want to compile a hitlist and become a psychopathic stalker, however it is because we do have music talent here in Blightly but for some reason the music buying public want to give their pocket money to Emo and indie instead of where the real roots of Britain lie – Punk Rock.
'Nine To Five' is a fast and hard take on the boring and mundane life of work. "Nine to five, I don't feel alive// Working with people// You're thrown together in a room with// Hour after hour, day after day" they shout, and I think we can all relate to that! 'I Smell Burning' is another song that is more than just a simple throwaway tune. Layered with intelligent music it jumps and spins around without getting too complicated. Great stuff.
There are elements of a Ska-free Less Than Jake in 'Mike', or even a harder NOFX which really does show you that there aren't any British bands like them. It's a catchy number which you'd expect with influences from the aforementioned bands. 'I'm Home' officially finishes the album although there is a live demo track snuck in at the end, you are left getting ready to listen to it all again.
So I'll skate over the clichés of 'shot in the arm' and 'kick up the arse' blah blah blah, but the point is for Britain this bands rocks, and perhaps over the pond there are a lot of bands like You Me And The Atom Bomb, but the truth is, are they as good? Well watch this space as the Atom Boy Three are about to shake things up!