EP REVIEW: Disposable Life – Knuckle Puck

As one of the preeminent forces in the pop-punk genre today, Chicago five-piece KNUCKLE PUCK have big boots to fill with their latest release – a brand new EP entitled Disposable Life. The record itself opens with Gasoline, an easy-going song all about plans for a radical new reality, where vocalist Joe Taylor sings: “With every day spent in the shade, think I’ll watch it burn/Throw gasoline on an open flame”. This chorus hammers home the thesis and ideas of a new reality that permeate throughout the entire EP. Each song is classic pop-punk, reminding us of why we fell in love with this genre many years ago – somehow, all this time later, KNUCKLE PUCK still manage to make it feel fresh. There’s also a massively nostalgic aura that surrounds it, making it feel so much more special.

While it may only be five short songs, Disposable Life packs the band’s song-writing and musical talents and capabilities into one small and easily consumable package. The first four songs follow the same formula; driving drumbeats and bass lines from John Siorek and Ryan Rumchaks respectively, paired with those ‘mid-west emo’ guitar licks we all know and love from Nick Casasanto and Kevin Maida, and easy-going melodies that the best (or worst) of us can sing along with.

Rounding off the EP is a cover of BLINK-182‘s Here’s Your Letter from the trio’s 2003 untitled album. It is a scorching cover of the original and feels like an extremely suitable celebration of KNUCKLE PUCK’s tenth year as a band. It feels as though we have stumbled upon the band in the early days, practicing in somebody’s garage, playing covers of early 00s pop-punk. Unlike these bands, however, the cover is tight, featuring manicured, air-tight guitar riffs and vocal harmonies. It is an inspiring conclusion to the release and a summation of the band’s journey so far.

Vocalist Joe Taylor has described the EP as a throwback to when the band had first started, almost like they are ‘rebooting’ KNUCKLE PUCK and its sound. The whole thing feels sounds natural and we can clearly hear how much fun the band would have had recording these songs and getting back to their roots as a group. They have managed to capture the magic of their first few releases nearly a whole decade later, bridging the sounds of past and present KNUCKLE PUCK and leaving a statement on what the future will no doubt hold for them. The title itself, Disposable Life nods to these ideas – what does it mean to us to lead a meaningful life? The music acts as a soundtrack to these questions and our answers.

It may be a celebration of the band and its ten-year anniversary, but Disposable Life cannot help but make us question our own ideas for the future after the events of the last two years, as the band have so clearly done. It is a recommitment to the idea that every life has value and meaning, as well as every day and moment.

Rating: 8/10

Disposable Life is out now via Wax Bodega.

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