Mooseblood – “I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time” Review
Posted: by Henderson
Stream the album while you read!
Mooseblood (along with Neck Deep and the reunited Basement) are at the forefront of a surge of English emo punk bands gaining popularity within the US. Mooseblood had been getting rave reviews abroad for some time, but I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time marks their debut LP, and their first big release since they’ve started getting some American attention. Released on No Sleep Records on October 6th, this album is an encouraging step in the right direction for the young British band, and hopefully a sign of even better things to come.
Mooseblood write emotional guitar driven melodic punk rock, similar in ways to Transit or Taking Back Sunday. On I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time they definitely take far more of a romantic take on punk than say the angrier grittier approach of bands like Citizen. This melodic punk style can be extremely effective and is in songs like “I Hope You’re Missing Me” and “Swim Down” (a track which sounds a lot like Bayside or Taking Back Sunday). On these tracks, energetic guitars and driving drums match tight vocals for an exciting and emotional blasts of punk rock. A track that really stood out and was my favorite on the album was “Gum”. It starts slow and builds to a crescendo that I think will be absolutely perfect live.
However not all of the tracks are able to find this energy, and I found that some songs weren’t dynamic enough vocally or instrumentally to hold my attention. No track on this album is bad, but only a few stand out as great songs. Hard to complain that a debut album isn’t perfect, but the bright spots on this record show what this band is capable of and that does drive up expectations.
I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time has established Mooseblood as a UK band worth keeping an eye on. If they can continue to improve their songwriting and keep their songs consistently dynamic and exciting, they will certainly make it big on both sides of the Atlantic.
7.5/10
– Hendo
