Abandin All Hope

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AN EXCUSE TO RAMBLE
Don’t let the punny moniker throw you—Fort Mac’s Abandin All Hope have put together an album that expresses a unique perspective of life in the shadow of the Alberta Advantage. With wit and originality, the songs of An Excuse to Ramble explore familiar elements of the 20-something zeitgeist without resorting to emo self-pity. Rather, they lampoon such everyman experiences as college life (“Dorm Phase”), leaving home (“Another Year”) and driving an affordable old jalopy (“Cavalier”). Although this album contains the perfunctory party anthems (“Giddy Up” and “Camping Rules”), AAH is at its best when casting vignettes of pop-culture. I mean, who hasn’t shared the frustration of dying at the same annoying stage in a videogame (“Where I Died”)? But don’t expect Knopfler-esque lingering guitar or a Death Cab pause-for-angst. AAH’s music is upbeat, fast paced pop-punk, mixing rapid guitar work and clear vocals with a heavy drum beat. Thirteen tracks, no waiting. Non lasciate ogni speranza, kids! The doorway to the inferno never sounded so utterly punkworthy.
-VUE WEEKLY
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MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD
Think Good Riddance meets The Offspring… add some ska musings… now a touch of Miami Sound Machine’s infamous tongue twisting hyperspeed lyrical skills ala ’Conga’ (that meant nothing to anyone born after 1991) …add a mispelt band name and you have Abandin All Hope (that’s abandon with an i!) - or something similar.
John Holmstrom of Punk magazine once described punk music as having evolved due to a bunch of talentless kids who wanted to say something but couldn’t play instruments so they decided to play anyway. Hence we have the traditional hardcore punk being nothing more than screaming and a couple of guitar riffs over and over and over… well you get the idea. Although Abandin All Hope does keep to the agressive style and the original "shorter than 3 minutes" punk rules (at least on this album), they do have talent.
The album "My Friends Are Dead" begins with a bassline reminiscent of Social Code’s ‘Whisper To A Scream’… oh how wrong we are. This album mingles hardcore riffs with entertaining and witty lyrics. It is a (whisper to a) scream from beginning to end… highly relatable for any 20-something who have found themselves… ok let’s leave that line there.
From ‘Naptime’ to ‘Snuffle’ the boys will have you smiling. At face value this album may look to be about drunken debauchery and one’s favourite bevvies; in a more enlightened or “enlightened” state it focuses the life issues that we face everyday… and have you hankering for gingerale! In the end Abandin All Hope has produced an amusingly insulting album about friendship, inspiration and how terrible it must be to hail from Newfoundland!
-APT PUNK