By naming their tenth album ‘Simplicity’, The Bouncing Souls have perfectly summed up their brand of punk rock; simple, direct, and to the point. Each time the New Jersey legends release an album, you know exactly what you are going to get, and ‘Simplicity’ is certainly no different. It’s as punchy, fast, and uplifting as any of their records.
What separates The Bouncing Souls from many of their contemporaries is the way in they add a melody to their songs without being a carbon copy pop-punk band, and virtually anything they have written can be considered an anthem. ‘Driving All Night’, ‘Satellite’, and ‘Up To Us’ are vintage Bouncing Souls at their best. Greg Attonito’s vocals are smooth and clear over simple, four chord punk riffs, with a tight rhythm section of driving bass lines and sharp snare cracks.
However the problem with ‘Simplicity’ is that you can’t help but feel you have heard these songs before, on every Bouncing Souls album. Even on the first listen you can sing along to the tracks as you can almost predict where the vocal pattern is going to go, where the chorus is going to come in, and when the next “wooooaaah” gang shout is going to happen. Sure, if The Bouncing Souls had released a proto-prog rock or neo-folk album, then people would have sneered, but very little has been done to mix things up on ‘Simplicity’.
It also feels that despite this being the first record to feature Hot Water Music drummer George Rebelo, he has not been used to the best of his abilities. While ‘Writing On The Wall’ and ‘Tightrope’ are decent punk songs, Rebelo has kept his beats very standard, rather than using some of the more interesting fills and syncopation that he is more than capable of. Look back at his work on ‘No Division’ and ‘Forever and Counting’ by Hot Water Music. Few punk rock bands were using some of those time signatures back then, and had he brought some of that to ‘Simplicity’, then perhaps tracks like ‘I Wanna Be Bored’ wouldn’t seem so… boring.
That being said, die-hard Bouncing Souls fans will surely love ‘Simplicity’. It may not have the same urgency as ‘Hopeless Romantic’ or the carefree attitude of ‘How I Spent My Summer Vacation’, but it does what it says on the tin. Regardless of ‘Simplicity’ not being a classic record in their back-catalogue, it won’t sully the bands legacy, and is very much a Bouncing Souls album.
GLEN BUSHELL