Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts

More fitting for a car ride home than a romp in the mosh pit, American Steel's second album for Fat Wreck Chords as a reunited band shows the guys continuing to evolve from their rambunctious punk-ska foundations into a more focused, muscular pop group. Here, on Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts, their music is too puffed out and slick to be really considered punk anymore; it's more analogous to American Idiot-era Green Day, with big melodies substituted for the breakneck speed of their early years. The touching sunshine vocal rounds of "Meals & Entertainment" show that Pet Sounds has replaced Inflammable Material on their inspirational turntable, in the same way that classic rock inspired Green Day's latter work. Fans of the Lookout years may be bummed with the softened new sound and changed direction, but American Steel seem so comfortable away from their Operation Ivy three-chord crunch that it's hard to believe they were ever anything but polished pop/rockers. Set in a moderate tempo, instead of trying to change society with their lyrics they now just try to escape it by rocking hard and partying hard — even dancing hard — in the face of adversity. While the inherent tone of "you can do it" is an upbeat departure, the most glaring change from earlier albums is in the timbre of Rory Henderson's voice, which has completely lost its raspy grit. He sings (truly sings) throatily, all the while urgently commanding the punch-drunk and weary to keep their chins up: "Emergency House Party" pushes the notion that drinking, dancing, and singing along will make everything all right, while "Tear the Place Apart" is what you might expect, a four-chord jam that urges, "Get your ass up on your feet now, baby! Tear the place apart!"