Face To Face
Big Choice
»
Face To Face
Big Choice
Hepcat, 1997
RiYL: Offspring, NOFX, Pennywise |
Big Choice is the California-based band's second full-length album, and it displays growth in the group's inspiring blend of punk music. The album puts the band in the same range as platinum-selling contemporaries Green Day and the Offspring while still maintaining the classic Face to Face sound.
Trevor Keith's vocals rise above characteristically thrashing guitars, and the amazing drumming supplied by Rob Kurth is a nice surprise on Big Choice . "You Lied'' showcases how good -- and how hard -- Kurth can pound.
Alongside the group's fast-paced, guitar-intensive sound, Big Choice features Keith's impressive lyrics. Every line makes perfect sense and sounds crystal clear. On "Velocity,'' Keith sings "So let me take a good look at your perfect life / So I know just exactly how I don't want mine." This spells out the anti-establishment concept of punk music for the listeners.
"A-OK'' sticks in your head like peanut butter to the roof of a squirrel's mouth. Even though it was released on the band's Over It EP, "A-OK'' still fits on Big Choice.
The most impressive track on the album is the amazingly fast "It's Not Over'', which will make you want to start a mosh pit in your room. The song is a good example of what the group sounds like live -- very loud and extremely intense.
"Debt'' is a strangely different track that shows Face to Face's inventiveness. The song features Keith screaming the verse over and over while Chad Yaro plays a choppy guitar riff.
A discussion between the band and a record executive is the introduction for one of the bonus tracks "Disconnected,'' which appeared on the band's first LP, Don't Turn Away. The song still remains Face to Face's best, and now everyone can hear it one more time.
Face to Face is -- or was -- the biggest secret in punk music. With Big Choice, the secret's out.
DAVID THOMAS |