- Nov 26, 2018

TOUGHER THAN YOU THOUGHT - Check, Please ALBUM REVIEW

Danny

Ivan

Aida

With a straight forward, pop-punk sound with emo influences comes Chicago IL, natives TOUGHER THAN YOU THOUGHT.

The trio recently released their debut EP CHECK, PLEASE.

Bringing forth fast guitars, punchy drums and tight harmonies amongst the usual suspects in pop-punk music, the band ties in their own musical influences and diversities.

Unbelievably so, the band had a 1 in a million chance of forming. 2 members of the band have parents who won the immigration lottery(1 in 900,000 odds) in their home countries. Once acclimated to American culture, the boys witnessed the American Dream and immediately took pursuit. 20 years later, fate introduces the two bringing to life their latest musical works.

TOUGHER THAN YOU THOUGHT - LOSS FOR WORDS

TOUGHER THAN YOU THOUGHT has influences hard to pinpoint with each song being dynamically different from the last. A tune like LOSS FOR WORDS has this Neck Deep sound with the straight-forward pop-punk chords and emotional lyrics. The high range vocals and the bridge part in the tune almost reminds me of old school Coheed (circa Turbine Blade). A tune like FOREVER NEVER AFTER is "the ballad" of the group with a sick four on the floor drum opening, that almost reminds me of a Get Up Kids tune.

OPEN BOOK is a tune that I can't pinpoint because it's kind of all over the place. It has these droney minor chords that open the tune whereas most pop-punk tunes are straight major chords. It has almost an alt. rock feel to it even down to having a guitar solo. Last but not least is GARDEN SNAKE which has a bunch of different time signature changes, primarily 3/4. Along with that, the tune speeds up and slows down, yes it's done to a click track, there's just different BPM. It's awesome to see a band show diversity in their music rather than the cut, copy, paste method seen all too often.

You can check out more of TOUGHER THAN YOU THOUGHT at ANY of the links below:

(SUBSCRIBE TO THE POP PUNK DAD SPOTIFY PLAYLIST)

CHECK OUT TOUGHER THAN YOU THOUGHT and the rest of the band's I've featured here:

THE POP PUNK DAD SPOTIFY PLAYLIST.