Album Review: Beside Myself - Here's to You

This review was originally published on DyingScene.

Beside Myself play a melodic brand of punk rock comparable to popular (relatively) punk acts like Jawbreaker, Dead to Me, and the electric side of Brian Moss’ countless projects. Here’s to You, the new album by Beside Myself, is filled with catchy anthems and sing-along choruses which should be appealing to any jaded punk rocker. For anyone who would prefer spending a night out on the porch with PBR and a pack of smokes rather than going to a show, this might be the album for you.

The best thing about Here’s to You is that it wastes absolutely no time for the listener. Its eight songs clock in at just shy of twenty one minutes and the band makes excellent use of that time. Take Time, the opening track on Here’s to You, kicks things off on a strong note with a melody that would be right at home on 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. From there the band continues with their sometimes shouted, sometimes sung dual vocal approach with similarly infectious tunes such as Part Two or the very Dead to Me-esque Overboard (or at least prior to the solo it sounds very much like Dead to Me).

Beside Myself doesn’t even waste time when it comes to the hidden track- just seconds after Overboard fades out, the band kicks in to a fairly faithful rendition of the Jam’s That’s Entertainment. While played with more distortion, the cover doesn’t do much to change the original, but it is a nice treat to those who are worried when first seeing that the final track is listed at six minutes long.

The instrumentation and song writing on the album is strong throughout. Although Here’s to You may only be Beside Myself’s debut studio recording, just by listening to the songs it’s clear that this trio is made up of seasoned veterans of the punk scene. The band runs a tight ship, and even though Here’s to You doesn’t bring anything special or new to the proverbial table, it’s still full of fun tunes. If you’ve been patiently waiting for the forgetters’ debut album and feel like you’re losing hope, Beside Myself will help to tide you over.