The Kowalskis play some solid, mid-tempo, female-fronted pop punk, but there’s more than enough straight ahead rock’n’roll to keep it from getting stuck in the steaming pile of pop punk turds. I picked up a split seven inch of theirs to review, and really liked the two songs, so I figured that I’d like this album. And I do. But The Kowalskis seem to be a better seven inch band in the sense that, for two songs, they hold my attention and have me singing along. When it gets to a whole album, there’s not enough variation between songs. After two or three tunes, it just becomes background music. It’s good background music. I just wish they’d mix up the tempo a little more or somehow have a little more variety. The “Uncontrollable Urge” is pretty rad, though.
–sean (Blackout)