Bitesize

Sophomore Slump (Packing Heat) 

  
Bitesize up the ante on Sophomore Slump (also showing a sense in humour even in the title, with their previous debut effort called The Best Of Bitesize) by offering twenty tracks of buzz-saw punk-pop that is superior to most of what passes within the genre.

Rather than simply embrace the "brat-core" movement, Bitesize revels in a self deprecating humour and youthful anxiety. What that amounts to in Sophomore Slump is a soundtrack for misfits, outcasts, and people who just plain don't fit in. Bitesize comes by this honestly, by way of Julia Serano's lyrics (formerly Tom Serano - check out http://www.bitesize.net for details).

The end result are tracks like the gratifying "so there!" of "Surprise Ending", the embarrassment behind "Father Figure" (about seeing your dad at the Ozzy Osbourne show - shudder!), and the hilarious "BTO" (Bath Tub Orgasm, that is). All are delivered around hooky guitars and Julia and Leslie's (first names only, please) vocal harmonies and counterparts. Tracks like "Unadulterated" feature the vocal tag-team perfectly, but know that the two always sound a little "off". Frankly, that's the charm here - especially when you combine it with the bands uncanny ability to find a song's melodic centre. Sometimes it turns into an addictive singalong as with "Double Knots", while elsewhere we have fist-waving supercharged power poppers like "Speed Demon". All of this is often done under the two-minute mark.

Sophomore Slump? - indeed not.

7.0