It's been a while since I'd heard the talk about how Christian music is just a bad rip-off of the mainstream music of the time. Squad not only seems to want this conversation started again, but they've done so by propelling themselves 15 years into the past. This record is a lot of BAD 80's glam rock sounding stuff, without any of the virtues of the genre. The production quality is not even up to par of a lot of modern punk, let alone the arena-rock sound that fits this style. The guitars are weak, and the solos (if you can call them that) make a mockery of the bands they're so badly imitating.
Lyrically this album has nothing to say either. Each song is punctuated by an annoying, repeating chorus such as "rock and roll at the end of the world." I only heard one song that seemed to have any kind of message to it whatsoever, but it was so weak that I can't even remember it now. What's worse is that this record is way too long and with every new song I found myself thinking "It's still not over?"
I will say one good thing about this record: the boys have learned to sing. They actually enunciate their words now (even if the words "rock and roll" come out "rock an' row") and their voices are better, which is a welcome change to the broken and incoherent vocals on their previous albums.
Some Squad fans will probably find this charming. Every Christian 14 year old is likely to love it. But for the rest of us, this isn't even worth the trip to the used CD store to get rid of it.
D+
Other coverage for this album
ReAL Magazine 2000Reviewed by Shawna T.Bombs away! Squad Five-O's new release Bombs Over Broadway is guaranteed to blow you away with a flashback to the eighties. Their new album sounds like a hair band clashing with retro punk. It's almost like someone put Poison, Rancid, Husker Du, Faster Pussycat, Crashdog, and the Clash into a wrestling rink. The quality and depth of this album is the most surprising thing I've heard since Alice…Bandoppler 2000Reviewed by Earl CampbellThe premise of reviving glam rock is enough to make any self-respecting member of a post-modern society cringe in chagrin (and in painful memory of their exuberance over cutting holes in jeans and going ape at Warrant concerts), but Squad Five-0 have always found a way to be the exception to the stereotype. Let's reflect. While ska and punk anthems were becoming more and more reviled, Squad was…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by Tom BastianThe first thing that came to my mind with this new Squad Five-O album is that it's a fun album. It's one you can put in and just have fun to. It rocks, you can sing along, and it's got plenty of attitude. As most of you already know Squad Five-O has gone from ska-punk to punk-ska and now to glam rock. Sure the band and some of their fans seem to be calling it rock n roll, but in reality it's glam…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by JamesPoison called. They said they wanted their setlist back. Granted, if you've seen Squad Five-O's live show in the last couple years, you know that "Bombs Over Broadway" stems from their innate tendency to re-establish the reign of "Eighties Hair Metal". Unfortunately, in a more broad and marketable sense, this album is hardly relevant. In my quest for an excuse to say, "hey! these boys are onto…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by Luke HarlowFrom the opening of the first, and title track, "Bombs Over Broadway" to the final song "Don't Look Back," it is clear that this record is about one thing: rock and roll. If one thing is certain, this album does rock. If every classic glam rock song was taken, influenced by punk, and then condensed into an 11-song album, the result would be "Bombs Over Broadway." Nothing is too complex here, just…Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestGlam from the streets, that's perhaps the best description I can give this record. What you hear is raw rock 'n roll with a punky garage sound. And at the same time there's a glamrock twist to it. A song like Renegade has an Alice Cooper feel. The same goes for Restless Youth with its bluesy flavor. Some of the other songs are sleazier like the uptempo Lost Boys which is more in the punkrock…The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Michial Farmer1. I'll make no bones about it. I absolutely hated Squad Five-0's first two albums. I found their poorly produced mix of ska and punk and insipid lyrics very nearly unlistenable. 2. Glam metal appears to be coming back into fashion. More and more punk bands are declaring their style as "glam punk," and with VH1 dedicating their Behind the Music show to more and more hair metal bands, it appears…Similar sounding releases
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