Boston's make the major-label leap with , but their decision to leave the independent ranks hasn't diluted their exuberantly revivalist sound. Recording with helmer at a remote outpost of Idaho, the quintet triangulates the streets of Los Angeles with the urgency of the D.C. tradition, and runs it all through the 1977-begging street of Boston's proud neighborhoods. There's more clarity in this approach than the tack taken by some of 's peers, who blend the rawness of with somewhat incongruous elements (elaborate string sections, say, or beats). Instead of blowing up their sound, have constricted further the already economic playing of their past. concentrates on 12 songs with righteous vocal melodies and an array of guitar tones that recall 1993 (think 's ) or even earlier. First single and the twin kick of and are undeniable jags of group choruses and devastatingly effective revivalism; they hurl empty pint glasses in the direction of where wonders with true honesty about the broken world we're living in. "I won't fight in any wars and I can't stand to see much more...But if you want a better world/Then I'll be right behind you." His lyrics connect to that sense of volatile hope that pulsed through American in the early '80s. Back then, kids started bands to get angry, but also to have a voice, and hopefully find some answers. preaches for unity in that tradition, and scene honesty in the rousing On , they're always railing against something larger (as the -derived opener does right away), instead of dwelling on the inner pain and heartbreak that seems to so preoccupy their revivalist contemporaries. ~ Johnny Loftus