Ten Foot Pole have been playing label musical chairs again. After being an Epitaph stalwart for years, the band released 2002’s ‘Bad Mother Trucker’ through Victory. Now the band have moved to Go Kart records and are ready to unleash their latest full length, ‘Subliminable Messages’ on the punk rock buying public. The album title has amusingly been stolen from another of George W Bush’s English language faux pas.
Now those of you with good memories will rightly remember that Ten Foot Pole‘s last effort, ‘Bad Mother Tucker’, came in for quite a slating on this site. It really was an album from a band running on empty; devoid of ideas and struggling to recapture their past form. So, does ‘Subliminable Messages’ restore any faith in this once great band? The simple answer is yes, but only to a certain degree.
The album actually starts out very badly. Whilst ‘Wake Up (and Smell the Fascism)’ is very strong lyrically, the song itself leaves a lot to be desired. It comes across as a miss-match of musical styles and ideas. The one thing it does do though, is hint at a much-improved vocal performance from Dennis. ‘Kicked Out of Kindergarten’ is a different story though. This is the kind of melodic punk rock song the band are famed for, and should be able to produce more consistently, considering their decade of experience. However, what begins to become apparent at this stage is that for every good song on this album, there is an equally average or poor one. Take the poor ‘She Looks Like’ and match it to album standout ‘Rachel Corrie’ and you will get an idea of what I mean. In truth it is only songs like ‘Your World’ and ‘Toss It All’ that save this album from going the same way as its predecessor. When this band hit the right notes they are still a force to be reckoned with, it’s just a shame their song writing is so inconsistent on this album.
‘Subliminable Messages’ is a step back in the right direction for Ten Foot Pole. There is enough here to suggest they are still capable of producing some great melodic punk songs. It’s just a shame that some of the poorer songs drag the overall quality of this album down. As it is, this average release is unlikely to be appreciated my many outside of the band’s strong fan base.
www.tenfootpole.com
Mark