Straight Up Random

CD Review: Run It Up The Flagpole by Farewell

The Band: Farewell

The Album: Run It Up The Flagpole

Stand Out Tracks: “Devoid (That’s What I Think About It)” “Before I Wake,” and “Catch-As-Catch-Can”

The Review: Farewell stepped up the punk for their second release Run It Up The Flagpole, and have done a good job at that.

Run It Up The Flagpole consists of 11 straight-forward pop punk tracks with a dash of synthesizers and keyboards. The songs are definitely more raw and punkier this time around than on their debut album Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun? The band still manages to tastefully incorporate syntheisizers to the point where it’s not overbearing on each song, but rather enhances the songs overall. When listening to Run It Up The Flagpole, there is an obvious influence from the band Green Day throughout the album, especially on the song “Expect The Worst,” in which the intro of the song takes cues from Green Day’s song “All Time Time.” Farewell also knows how to slow down the pace and show a more heartfelt side to them like on their songs “Before I Wake,” and “Take It From Me.”

On this album, Farewell writes about what they know best – life experiences – and their straight-forward lyrics don’t fiddle around the obvious. They may not be lyrical geniuses but there is a kind of sincerity to their lyrics that most bands lack in their songs nowadays. They’re also not afraid to call out what’s wrong with the scene like on their track “Devoid (That’s What I Think About It)” when they ask the question “When did rock and roll become this f****ing fashion show?”

Just when it seems like the album is over, fans are treated with a special song that comes after track 11 that bottles up their angst and aggression and lets it out in a burst that lasts one-minute and sixteen seconds and closes out the album perfectly. Farewell is a real band that makes real pop punk music, and Run It Up The Flagpole delivers fast and catchy songs that anybody could enjoy if just given the chance.

The Rating: 3.5 out of 5