Up For Nothing – Twelve Stories Down

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© 2011
Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

I’m listening to Twelve Stories Down, the brand sparkin’ new release from Up For Nothing. Straight away, I’m going to lead in a specific direction; I don’t know if these guys ever listened to Pistol Grip at all, but there is a serious similarity there, not in a rip-off way, but in the way that Up For Nothing is awesome like Pistol Grip is awesome. I’m not trying to type-cast, mind you; I’m just saying that there is an influence here that I dig.

The title “Twelve Stories Down” coincides nicely with the twelve tracks, stories, if you will, on the new disc. There are few epic ballads, clocking in over 3 minutes, but the rest are of the short attention span friendly < 3:00 mark. All of them, even the “ballads”, have an underlying aggression musically, yet retain coherence. A.k.a. no horrid scream-o vocals over the top of wanking solos. I know I tend to pigeonhole and compartmentalize bands when I review them. It is solely for conveyance of what I’m hearing. To that end, and inclusive of prior references, the songs are a lot like mixing Pistol Grip with American Steel: Hardcore edge mixed with loads of punk, yet a very tangible emotional level to the songs. In other words, there are “hey heys” and “whoa whoa whoas”, but they are simultaneously rowdy and encouraging while being heartfelt and sincere. At the end of it all, what you get is twelve tracks of punk rock, some more hardcore, some more emo, but all of it damn good. I defy you to listen to this disc and not like it. If you don’t, I think maybe you’re not paying attention at all. --Jerry Actually