Album Review: Off With Their Heads - Home

Since their inception back in 2002, Minnesotan four-piece Off With Their Heads have owed a substantial debt to revered Twin Cities outfit Hüsker Dü. Stylistically, there were obvious parallels between the two bands, beyond a shared home town. Ryan Young's voice straining over power chords feels immediately referential to the work of Bob Mould and co.

However on their third long player, and second with revered punk label Epitaph, the influence of Hüsker Dü has been superseded by a much more contemporary sonic reference. All the time out on the road with Against Me! can be heard throughout Home, especially on numbers like Shirts and Altar Boy, where the quartet hit that stadium-y power-pop punk rock sound that Against Me! long ago perfected. Though these songs do well to capture the attention for the first several listens, it doesn't sound like Off With Their Heads writing music in a particularly unique voice. Home is weighed down by an irksome sense of same-sameiness, and the band's struggle to find their own sound makes it falter upon repeat listens.

It's not all doom and gloom though, Off With Their Heads manage to redeem themselves in the moments where Home finds its own sound among the punk rock milieu. Its strengths lie in the confessional Don't Make Me Go and alienation anthem Always Alone. In songs like these, it's evident that Off With Their Heads have something to say, and when they realise how to articulate that in a unique voice, they'll be just about unstoppable. Until then though, we'll just have to be content with records like Home, that show real promise, but, frustratingly never fully deliver.