This one hit me by surprise. Alex at Union 2112 kept asking me if I had given this album a spin but alas, I was neglectful. Let's put all that behind because The Flatliners have given me one of the best punk albums of 2007. Seriously! The Great Awake is one of those albums that is catchy but still angry. The hooks are plenty and the vocals are sung with a bit of a punk sneer but just as well. They have a bit of the Dropkick Murphys style mixed with that of No Use For A Name. Before you run off screaming "I don't need anymore!" you need to know that The Flatliners are fantastic at what they do.
The Great Awake is the band's follow-up to Destroy To Create. It starts out with an obvious party anthem "July! August! Reno!", a fantastic way to get the new listener into this fantastic band. "Eulogy" change things up slightly but keeps up the pace. The main thing you will notice with The Flatliners on this album is that they have that pop-punk feel similar to that of NOFX but they also integrate some ska influences as well, which apparently their previous album had a lot more of. They play around with this ska sound on "This Respirator", coming off a little like Operation Ivy. Again, ska rears up on "You Guys Want One Of These?". The difference between this album and others in the same genre is that The Flatliners are capable of mixing things up. A lot of the songs do sound similar but there is enough of a difference between them all to keep them all relevant. I love the anthem "These Words Are Bullets", totally reminding me of the sing along choruses that Dropkick Murphys are capable.
The Flatliners sound like they would fit nicely on the Fat Wreck Chords roster on which they've been signed to stateside, fact is they are on Union 2112 in Canada which is definitely a strong point. It leaves them to be discovered by those looking for something different and hopefully many surprises such as mine will result.
(Union 2112 / Fat Wreck 2007)
Reviewed on 2007-10-02 15:11:52 by Dennis Scanland
