Lagwagon
Resolve

THE REVIEW

It's becoming increasingly common in the current melodic punk-core scene that most of the historical acts composing it, with the arrival of the new millennium and the passing years, pull out increasingly monotonous albums, leading many bands to a constant decline.

Two years after "Blaze," Joey Cape and company return with Lagwagon's "Resolve." The entire album was composed in honor of the late Derrick Plourde, who passed away a few months before the album's release. He was the former drummer of the band and of Bad Astronaut (Cape's side project) and a close friend of his.

The record maintains the band's classic style and it can be said that there haven't been significant changes. It's the usual Californian melodic hardcore that has characterized them since the beginning, but unfortunately, the "Hoss" era is decidedly long gone. The album offers very few interesting points, with songs that certainly do not stand out for originality and freshness. There are very fast songs, in truth very few, that hark back to the past, and more stretched pieces (if you'll pardon the expression) where melody prevails much more. Twelve songs (plus the final acoustic track) leave much to be desired.

Lagwagon manages once again to create fun melodies and then? That's it. The tracks, but this is nothing new for them, are all marked by countless instrumental parts, some with fitting solos, others terribly long and monotonous. If I had to choose, the only worthwhile episodes are "The Contortionist" with a good dose of melody and speed and a fitting chorus, and the opening "Heartbreaking Music" which echoes "Hoss"—very fast and engaging, though it lacks the freshness of tracks like "Name Dropping" or "Violins." Partially worth saving is also "Virus," though it's just a bit too long, a factor that penalizes it.

The rest can be said to be practically negligible. There are even two mid-tempo tracks, the title track and "Sad Astronaut," both characterized by a slow first part with sweet arpeggios and a second more punk-rock part that tries to retrieve and replicate their past success "Alien8," but the result is truly insubstantial.

The problem plaguing Lagwagon is that they are always anchored to the same old patterns, a situation that over time becomes tiresome and boring. You can't always keep going with stop and go and the same routines; moreover, the songs are often stretched out forcefully, without everything coming out coherent, especially in a genre characterized by short and direct compositions. For instance, Rise Against can pull off songs longer than three minutes, but they fail to maintain tension for the listener for long.

The final result is insufficient; a few tracks are not enough to save a sinking ship. I hope for Lagwagon that in the future they propose something at least different, even though I believe that the '90s have definitively set for them.