home Album Review Ataris – So Long, Astoria – CD Review

Ataris – So Long, Astoria – CD Review

One of the finest examples of high-grade, Pop Punk perfection has to be the Ataris.  Point-in-fact, they tore-it-up on “The Jimmy Kimmel Show” (ABC) last night, doing a blistering cover of Don Henley's “The Boys Of Summer” and the original “In This Diary.”  The Ataris are the archetype for Pop Punk greatness.

Their 2003 masterpiece, “So Long, Astoria” [Columbia Records], is both melodic and metallic, featuring a slight Hardcore edge.  Clean, yelled vocals dance through a maelstrom of churning guitars and hook-drenched rhythms.  It's as catchy as it is intense, having enough teeth to make it truly glorious.

Out of this amazing collection of cuts, the best ones include the sing-able melancholy of “I Won't Spend Another Night Alone (New Version),” the retrospect wisdom of “In This Diary,” “Hero Dies In This One,” their killer rendition of Don Henley's “The Boys Of Summer,” and the powerful “All You Can Ever Learn Is What You Already Know.”  The Ataris are an incredible band.

Overall, The Ataris have outdone themselves again with “So Long, Astoria.”  This is one band that just keeps getting better and better.  Stay savage.  Farewell.

Related Bands: Unwritten Law, Donnas, American Hi-Fi, Simple Plan, All-American Rejects, Sum 41, Wakefield, Rancid, Blink 182, Wheatus, Fenix TX, Green Day, etc.

Keep the faith, and the AGGRESSION. War.

Bill Vogel III
Email at: StrangeAeons@hatebox.net
Copyright 2003.
Courtesy of Stranger Aeons Magazine.

%d bloggers like this: