Being lumped, perhaps unfairly, with the other bands of the punk mini-boom of the ’90s meant that Pennywise often got overlooked in favour of more MTV-friendly combos. But being partially ignored by the mainstream meant the band never had to compromise. On their ninth studio album, Pennywise stay close to what, over two decades, has become their sound. It sits comfortably next to other west coast punk bands like Bad Religion but preserves some of the urgency that their punk forefathers seem to have lost. Is this album in any way revolutionary? No, but hey, we never gave The Ramones any shit for keeping things retarded and pretty much the same for 20-plus years. Reliability sometimes is a good thing even if it makes for albums that history likely
won’t remember. (Download the album for free: www.myspace.com/
pennywise.)

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