Descendents - Cool To Be You

First album in seven years… should they have bothered?

Well – probably. Let’s face it; every kid who wants to pretend they remember them from the first time round is going to buy this record to look cool. What they will get is a collection of typically American, fairly inoffensive, pop punk tunes. They pretty much all sound the same, though one or two tracks stand out due to their odd lyrics. ‘Mass Nerder’, for example: an adolescent whinge – are we to assume this is irony?

Only two tracks from the EP ”Merican’ re-appear here so there is a plentiful offering of new material, all of which is performed with evident experience and supported by high quality production.

It’s fun, it’s skilled, it ain’t bad. Buy it if you like Blink 182 and want to increase your scene points, but if you’re looking for something original and inspired, you won’t find it here.