NEW MUSIC REVIEW: THE SWELLERS

Stream The Swellers' new album, Ups and Downsizing, on the band's MySpace Page. The record will see release through Fueled By Ramen on September 29th.

If you caught the band at Uprok a couple weeks back, you know that closing yours eyes during a Swellers set will beam you back to an Epitaph Records tour circa '97. Ups and Downsizing contains a good dose of the metal-production-meets-melodic-punk sound that bands like Lagwagon and Strung Out championed in the '90s ("2009," "The Iron"). But it also wears a gloss of Weezer-meets-Jimmy Eat World pop polish--most apparent on the track "Do You Feel Better Yet?" While this may have something to do with the band's new home at popstar preening camp, Fueled By Ramen, Ups and Downsizing succeeds in prettying up punk rock without becoming one of those awful mass-produced, money-makers (see the rest of the FBR roster). DF

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