July 23, 2009

Album review: Set Your Goals - 'This Will Be The Death Of Us'

A genre confused from the start, and this doesn't help...

Marketing something as ‘pop-punk’ conjures many connotations, none positive. Polarised in concept and design, the genre pits pop’s plastic simper against the grimace of punk’s acerbic social commentary. Escapism Vs realism – it’s no wonder the kids are confused. Branded as such and acting as an ephemeral solution to the perplexity of adolescence, Set Your Goals’ attempt to inculcate and lead a Generation Next-style movement, left disenfranchised when their dreams were burst at the hands of capitalism’s rapacious desires, is a pathetically polished war cry. Call it what you will, but ‘This Will Be…’ is unlikely to stir a teen from their slumber with its vacuous and laminated scuzzy guff, let alone inspire the rebellion it desires.

Thomas A Ward

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