Happy Friay, rockers! Heading into your holiday weekend (or just a regular weekend for our non-American readers), let’s get you some punk to rock out to. Burntmill Ghosts is a punk band out of New Jersey. They just put out a new album a few months back on SBÄM Records/Double Helix Records called Old Records and it’s currently streaming on their Bandcamp.
The record kicks off with “Another Round,” a rollicking, classic punk bar song with an unbridled energy to it that makes for a really exciting opener. Then “The Body” is a melodic tear-jerker of a punk song about the inevitable passing of time. “Paradise” opens on a furious punk rock intro, but quickly downshifts into a laid-back ska tune that’s perfectly paired with poetic imagery in the lyrics to create a true thing of beauty. “As the Crow Flies” comes in with an early Blink-182-style bass part that rolls into a wistful yet muscular punk track. “Springdale Ave.” breaks out the acoustic guitar for a classic punk love song that’s simply heartbreaking.
Side B of the record comes in with “Tulsa Heat,” which perfectly captures a Rancid-esque sense of nostalgia. Then the punk-meets-sea-shanty style of “Annabel Lee” is a catchy retro experiment that works brilliantly. “Broken Promises” is a classic punk style song with a touch of country twang to it to give it a lively energy and a sense of wistfulness. “Fox Lake” has a sing-along quality to it that would make it a really fun live song to hear. Finally, closing track “Maple Place” ends on a bang instead of a whimper, ending on the same sense of power and energy as the opening track, and riding off into the sunset on an absolute banger.
It’s an album that deftly covers a number of different punk styles to create something that’s diverse but still firmly rooted in punk. Check out the record below.
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Photo courtesy of Burntmill Ghosts
