There’s really no need to go into any lengthy discussion about the stylistic offerings of Civil War Rust. They are a Bay area pop punk band…nothing more, nothing less. Having said that, you should know exactly the type of sound you are in store for on their latest release titled Help Wanted. The sound has been done over and over by countless bands and those that tend to distinguish themselves in this genre are those that have a little more depth to their input and a little more gloss & finish on their output. Civil War Rust definitely falls into this category. The songs on Help Wanted are well arranged, well produced, and as catchy as any band of the like could hope for. There’s plenty to sing along to and tight instrumentation to back it up.
A couple of things that I really enjoy about this band are as follows: 1. While the vocal content is very melodic, the band does have two different people trading lead vocals at times, and the two voices are very contrasted. It creates a cool dynamic and adds one more element to the overall sound that most bands don’t have. 2. I like self-deprecating stuff! There’s a lot of hot heads walking this planet and many of us oscillate back n forth between delusions of grandeur and humbleness. The best thing we can do is embrace those times when we recognize that we are human. Civil War Rust rules at this! As one small example, on the track Bart Cards and Broken Hearts, Ryan explains a break up such that, “…she’s already on her way into the arms of her next mistake….I’m not poetic, I’m pathetic!” This my friends is poetry despite the author’s claim otherwise. The short of it: I like this band, I like this release. Good job guys!
3.75 out of 5 SDP Skulls!
Artist: Civil War Rust
Album: Help Wanted
Release Date: November 20, 2015
Label: Def Cow Records and Say-10 Records
Like them on Facebook and go buy Help Wanted!
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Reviewed by Todd Dulawan
