Boys No Good - Never Felt Better

In a scene where "pop punk" bands quickly means "being like New Found Glory or The Wonder Years" I think that Boys No Good is a breath of fresh air. They obviously take from a lot of the same influences (if their name isn't a Lifetime reference I'll eat a pair of my dirty underwear), but what I like about Boys No Good's brand of melodic hardcore is that they focus more on the hardcore aspect, as opposed to their peers who venture toward going the incredibly sugary filled hooks route.

It should be noted that Boys No Good is made up of former members of Casey Jones and Kids Like Us- two straight edge hardcore bands out of Florida. Whereas those two bands let being straight edge be the focus of their music, Boys No Good takes a slightly different approach. They've still got some of their positive outlooks on life (especially in Bold City Tigers with the declaration of "there's no place I'd rather be than hanging with my friends!") but their output isn't based around being a member of the straight edge community.

Is it ironic that I was drunk while writing this?

Instead of minute long blasts of how the members don't drink, listeners are treated to (on average) 3 minute songs about hanging out with old buddies, girls, betrayal and the hardships of life (as well as possible ways to be positive about it). Four of the five songs from their demo appear on Never Felt Better, so if you've already heard their demo, you may have a slight idea of what this sounds like. Granted, if you've been keeping up with any band in the current pop punk scene (the aforementioned NFG and Wonder Years, Set Your Goals and so on) you probably have an idea of what Boys No Good sounds like. Musically at least, as their vocalist sings in a much more (I can't believe I'm using this term) "gruff" manner as opposed to the higher pitched nasal tones of the other pop punk bands in the modern day scene.

I feel as if I'm not really selling this album properly, so I'll just leave it at this: I guarantee that it is a solid melodic/pop punk album. These guys have really captured the way that Lifetime was able to meld their heavy hardcore background with super sweet hooks that get stuck in your head. The entire thing is streaming over at Punknews so maybe you should just give it a listen and judge for yourself. If there's any justice in this world, these guys will blow up by their third album or so.