This is the fourth full-length from Proton Packs, a catchy pop punk outfit from Tuscany, Italy that is celebrating their fifteenth anniversary this year. They self-describe as Ecto-punk, presumably because so many of their songs contain lovably nerdy sci-fi references. The lyrics are in English, sung with a heavy accent, adding to the fun. Mid-tempo, simple riffs drive the action, with the verisimilitude of it all catching up with me after the first couple of tracks. It shouldn’t take fifteen years for a band this strong to finally find a stateside audience, not that such an endeavor should be a goal. It’s just embarrassing that records this great routinely hail from European groups that ought to already be huge in the States. Perhaps that’s what this record’s titular paradox refers to? –Art Ettinger (Mom’s Basement, momsbasementrecords.bigcartel.com)