Caption: Album Artwork
For those of you not familiar with Pennywise… well, where the hell have you been?! The California punk rockers formed back in 1988 and found success due to the growing interest in the genre at that time and by taking part in events such as the Vans Warped Tour— in fact, Pennywise actually managed to clock up eight runs on the U.S. touring festival over the years!
Never Gonna Die is the first album of new material to be released by the band in 10 years, and its title is very apt for a band that is now in its 30th year. Punk rock may not have the same appeal to music fans as it did in the late 20th century, but that doesn’t mean that this record won’t be widely appreciated by both older and new fans alike. With Pennywise still touring regularly, you can’t help but respect the determination in their art.
A lot of bands continue to release material despite not being as popular as they once were and for the most part, it doesn’t sound good. Fans tend to prefer the classics and are quick to find fault with anything that sounds remotely different, but luckily for Pennywise Never Gonna Die is as equally solid as, for example, 1999’s Straight Ahead.
The longest song, ‘She Said‘, is only three minutes and 41 seconds long, so each and every track is considerably short— but all the more sweet because of it. The band gets its point across without all the frills, and some of the shortest offerings such as ‘Listen‘ actually manage to be high points.
Their style is still what you’d expect– fast, hard, and unapologetic. It’s punk rock in its rawest form and yet the lyrics still manage to make the listener stop and think. Anyone who is able to pull off that balance with ease is clearly made to go down in history, and Pennywise have hit one out of the ballpark with this record.
