Pennywise - Yesterdays

By Scott Birnie

Released Friday July 11th - Warner Music

Pennywise are back, and, with more of the same, are just as good as they ever were. While ‘Yesterdays' offers up a set list of new tracks from the Californian punk outfit, it's hard for them to branch out from what has been so successful for them over the last 20 years. 4 chords, a frenetic double kick back beat, motivational and inspirational (and somewhat political) lyrics sung like a proud anthem is what Pennywise do and they do it exceedingly well, albeit a little reminiscent of every album they've ever produced.

Yesterdays does offer up a few slight changes to this recipe. While pounding the much trodden path of the political punk rock scene blended with a few musing of the love lost/found, the quartet manage to slow things down just long enough to hear a hint of heartbreak and real true emotion (see track ‘She's A Winner'). While it may last only a brief moment it may be a glimpse into the realm of the unknown for Pennywise, but I have no doubt it won't last long.

Punk-rock has always been about the crowd, about the fans and about the message, the angst that goes hand in hand is always hard to decipher over a CD or a download, the real emotion is delivered through live performance. While ‘Yesterdays' runs parallel to their previous offerings it will still be a must have for Pennywise fans the world over, and also tells me that they aren't done yet. They haven't reinvented the wheel here, but they have never intended to do that.

Buy it, listen to it, but then search them out live. It may sound the same, but it always feels like part of something big...

3.5 / 5