The Fades

The second album by London-based pop-punks features a song called "Music Is Killing Me" that includes the chorus "This scene is over/It's over now." With an opening like that provided, even the most charitable reviewer has to point out that indeed, most of the songs on The Fades sound like they're a couple years past their sell-by dates. A confusing mishmash of post-Green Day pop-punk and songs that sound directly influenced by the likes of Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots, these ten tracks segue awkwardly. The album as a whole resists any attempt to build up a head of steam even though a few of the individual songs are actually pretty good. In particular, "Fruit Machine" and "Kalashnokov" are genuinely great, power-poppy punk songs that recall the glory days of U.K. post-punk and early California hardcore, respectively. In that case, perhaps the answer is that the Fades simply aren't looking far enough backwards for influences to cop.