EP REVIEW: Better Days – PVMNTS

As nauseatingly cliche as it sounds: quantity doesn’t always equal quality – and modern pop punk is a strong symbol of this. As deep as the well of bands in the scene seems to be, many of them struggle to stand out. PVMNTS are a trio that don’t do much wrong on debut EP Better Days, yet they still seem to fall victim to the sign of the times.

That’s not to say that Better Days lands flat on its face though, the opening guitar lines of Another Monday could fit within the walls of GREEN DAY‘s seminal record Dookie with ease. While the closing one-two of White Walls and Heavy Moon own enough bounce and melody to stand up as love-able pop punk anthems. There’s an audience out there for this to capture too – and with tweaks in the right areas PVMNTS may be on to something here.

It’s in the opening combo punch of Chemical Trails and Hit The Ground where PVMNTS drawbacks are revealed though. The formula of a three chord riff that bridges into an amped up chorus is tried, tested, and almost worn out by 2018. And this, more than anything else is where Better Days struggles most. Simply put: the trio struggle from sitting within the confines of a style that lacks originality.

While as a collective work of art this EP does little to offend, it does equally little to push boundaries either. In a world where bands like STATE CHAMPS, NECK DEEP and THE STORY SO FAR seem to have the concept of melodic pop punk nailed down; bands that aren’t different or at least near their quality are set to have a hard time breaking through.

There’s little doubt that Better Days will capture the hearts of some, as there’s enough here to get the right demographic excited about what could follow. But you can’t help but feel like when trying to break through the barriers of pop punk’s more widely recognised acts, Better Days would fall short. There’s still plenty of time for PVMNTS to find their musical zenith, but this EP is unlikely to be it.

Rating: 6/10

Better Days is out now via self-release.

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