Esque-ish.
Australian (almost punk) rockers The Living End have a adopted a sound steeped in old school rock for this album; Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd spring to mind straight away on some tracks (opener ‘How Do We Know?’ seems to borrow heavily from both), and this is mixed with up-beat pop-punk/rockabilly elements, but overall they are a much more mainstream prospect and often fall down because of cheesy vocals, uninspired and obvious lyrics and familiar three chord chugs and simple riffs. Often the punk influence is all but hidden and can barely even be called pop-punk, softened as it is by often having a Bruce Springsteen-esque edge.
The album can occasionally be satisfying in a pop-rock way; there are some quite catchy melodies at times and bouncy rhythms infuse everything but it’s very middle-of-the-road and so average that you will hardly notice it’s there. Often sounding very generic and without any bite there are no quirky or heavy sections to really get your teeth into, they trundle along like (hate to say it) a later day Alkaline Trio (‘Raise The Alarm’) and sometimes they venture into soft rock with tracks like ‘Make the Call’. That easy on the ear mildly rocky sound is very inoffensive but doesn’t offer anything that will make you sit up and listen and it quickly becomes a bit monotonous.
Apart from some nice little melodic moments this is an album that flirts with many rock sub-genres but never does anything interesting with any of them; seeming happy to plod along with obvious mid-heavy riffs and lyrics that are so general they could mean anything to anybody so it all tends to mash together and blend into one.