A Ska and Rock Soiree from SKANIMALS
A recent album release from Skanimals delivers a colorful but edgy Ska and punk approach that comes with some of those classic influences of the genres along with the full set of instrumentation that you would expect.
One of my favorite aspects about the Unleash The Skanimals album is its vibrant, vivacious, endless, and punchy energy.
There are aspects of this record that make me feel like the whole thing was recorded live on the floor, and then overdubs were done later on.
It's just the energy on the record itself. It feels as if all the band members are feeding off of each other the entire time, giving the tracks the feeling of being live in the moment.
Of course, I wasn't there, and some of the footage I've seen says otherwise, but it's just the sheer fact that you can listen to this record and immediately know that this band is going to be Stellar to see in a live performance that makes me love this record so much.
You have jumping guitars, which, at times, are heavier and thrashier but are clean for the most part until more of those punk feels come in. You also hear pop and indie rock in there at times, especially on the guitar. I also adore the massive, animated vocal approach and how they add plenty of crew vocals and classic punk or ska style because this just gives that authenticity and shows the band's true love for the genre and their craft.
One of my favorite tracks on the record is actually the first real song called "Gods On My Shoulders".
This track comes right after the intro to the record, which is just over a minute long and is exactly as it's meant to be: an intro.
"Gods On My Shoulders" is a massive track, and one of the reasons I love it so much is that it displays some of the best attributes of the band's songwriting and performances right at the beginning of the record.
It has amazing progressions and vocal melodies along with all of that energy, color, vivaciousness, edginess, and more.
This is an absolutely perfect track to introduce you to the rest of the record and what you might expect.
Having said that, I know listening to this album in full is the only way to go.
Yes, listening to a few tracks will give you a gist of what you might expect, but it won't give you the full spectrum of what the album has to offer as a whole, and this is important because there's loads going on here.
Songs like "Alpha" showcase the band's ability to reign in a slew of different influences all in one track while giving it an edgy approach, but also with plenty of catchiness and hooks that bounce around in your brain for hours after the song has ended.
There are various approaches to their songwriting, and the only way to soak all of that is by listening to the full record.
The album is technically 10 tracks long and just over a half hour, which is perfect for you to take a ride in the car and jam on this whole thing.
I grew up listening to plenty of Ska and punk, and I can tell you that these guys are a new generation of the genre.
Being an older man who loves all this sort of stuff, I'm so happy to hear a record like this because seeing a younger group of people bust out such a genuine Ska record is outstanding.
The bass guitar lines are always infectious, the drumming has tons of drive and liveliness while still being right in the pocket, there are horns, the guitars are amazing, and there are loads of vocals just coming at you from all angles throughout this entire record, and no two songs are really too alike.
Plus, as I mentioned earlier, there are numerous vocal styles on this record so by the time you get halfway through the album, you begin to expect the unexpected, which is refreshing for me.
Dive into the world of Skanimals as soon as you can because if you're someone that grew up listening to this kind of stuff, you're going to not only get bouts of nostalgia, but you'll be warmed that there's bands out there doing this right.
