American Television are a punk rock band outta DC.  They play fast and are a throwback to the kind of punk that swamped MTV back in the day. At times they remind me of the likes of Anti Flag, Bad Religion and of course Green Day.  This is their debut album and for the Genre their hitting outta they do it really well. The band themselves say that its an album of ten tracks of pop melodies with a punk rock attitude and that’s a fair assessment of what ‘Watch It Burn’ is all about.  There is an air of being uplifted by the songs and that’s always a good thing, right? Like their genre compadres Anti Flag they feel that the “Man” is crushing the man and money and greed is taking over above the greater good and I like that and you can hear it in their lyrics.  Bands like American Television offer hope and are eternal optimists and that’s always cool.

I particularly love the bass thud of ‘Drinks’ – married with the thunderous riff its the standout song. Close on its heels is ‘Dad’s Song’ which is probably reflected right around the globe currently. to be fair when you dig into the album the guts of the tracklist is really strong and songs pop out the more you play it. ‘Technology’ is grabbing me at the moment followed by the harder-edged ‘Wasteland, USA’ with its sub-two minutes heads down and hit it hard attitude.

Something of a call to arms for all the disenfranchised and misfits out there ‘Misprint’ is autobiographical and something many punks can relate to and it’s wrapped up in a good tune and they reference Greg from Bad Religion to boot.  If you’re waiting for the slow heartfelt set-ender then forget it.  these guys light the torch and carry it on ‘Great Divide’ reminding me of the Downtown Struts and that’s always a cool sound.  Check it out I really liked it and can only see it growing on me even more.

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Author: Dom Daley