No Regrets
Something Unnatural

When I first received No Regrets’ most recent release, Something Unnatural, I knew that the band’s name sounded very familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had heard of them. Then I looked at one of the flyers hanging on my wall from last year, a show with Big D and the Kids Table, The Know How, Fatter Than Albert, Samurai Deli, and NO REGRETS! Then I remembered their set. As a band from New Jersey, they played first and had a large crowd, but no one was really sure what to do to their music but stand back and enjoy. These guys combine punk, ska, and hardcore in an unorthodox way that most people have to fully absorb, as it’s something no other band is doing. Although the method of presentation on this disc is not the best, it exemplifies this unique style that No Regrets has pioneered.

The first track, “So Long Ago,” starts with a drum and bass intro that is joined by a guitar riff, and blended into an intentionally atonal hardcore section. When the band’s trombone and trumpet combination comes in and joins this hardcore feel, the unified sound is really tight and well played. When the tune hits the fast-paced ska verse, the overlapping vocals by Kevin, the band’s lead vocalist, are very high mixed but not very loudly sung. The general trend throughout the disc is that these vocals come across as oversung because they’re mixed so high. The horns join the rhythm section as really awesome background music, especially during the harder choruses. The drum tracks are also very precise, and the only real complaint I have with this tune is the vocal mixing, not at all the instrumentation or playing. The tune fades out with a series of hardcore breakdowns, which are guitar based and well played, but I really wish for a more of an edge in this lead in both distortion and volume. Static from the end of track 1 blends well into the second tune, “Kill Your Scene.” Overall, I like the composition of this tune a lot better, starting with a more slow-paced hardcore and kicking into ska verses with a half-time feel in the drums and catchy horns behind the vocals. The trumpet player, Panaccio, hits an impressively high register and stays tonally accurate which is really commendable. I like the combination of vocal tracks at certain parts which present two different octaves of the same part, and the result is that the vocals don’t sound so oversung. Another hardcore breakdown at the end of the tune plays with odd time signature and is pulled off well by the band’s rhythm section. The third track, “Ballad of Jack McDermott,” starts with double-time punk and sustains this feel through the verses with excellent accompanying horn licks. This is definitely my favorite track on the disc as the vocals get an awesome effect on them during the bridges, and the choruses have guitar parts that don’t stick to the power chord formula. Some of the horn parts get really high and noticeably out of tune for small segments, but in the whole scheme of the tune, this is really negligible. A breakdown featuring a whole slew of vocal parts kicks back into the chorus to end the tune on a really high note.

“A New Beginning” is a mostly ska and reggae tune featuring a lot of upbeats and the addition of a smooth sounding keyboard. The horn playing isn’t as up to snuff in this tune with some tuning and articulation problems, and the vocals stick out in the verses enough to dominate the rest of the band. The song is overall very enjoyable, I just wish the mixing was a little more cohesive so all of the individual parts could be heard, as most of them are on the money. The percussion parts in this song do it well, and the guitar and bass, when heard, are combined with the keyboard as nice additional accents. “Selleck” the only tune under 2 minutes on this disc, and is entirely punk and hardcore, which I think the band really excels in. With all of the musicians creating a solid framework for the vocals, which are blended well into the flow of the tune, I think this is the best mixed track on the album. The EP ends with “Better Off Alone,” a tune with some great signatures of No Regrets, including high energy punk, horn lines that make their way into the background music very well, and vocals that fit their up-tempo and distorted style. When the band hits an upstroked breakdown, two guitar parts are excellent blended, and both a trombone and trumpet solo make nice appearances. The ending trombone note isn’t exactly what I wanted to hear going back into the chorus, but I think the track recovers and hits more hardcore breakdowns in stride, featuring very powerful horns lines and intermittently screamed vocals. This is the realm in which No Regrets excels.

No Regrets is presenting a style of punk, ska and hardcore that’s very unique and appealing, especially to the eclectic fans of all three genres. The waves that Something Unnatural will make will undoubtedly be good ones, as they will be visiting CT in the near future. Check out their live show and pick up a copy, or pick up the disc online by contacting the band.

Reviewed By:  Todd Springer

Date:  Sat 2 Sep 06

Score:  7.0

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