Shot Baker - Take Control

Artist: Shot Baker

Album: Take Control

Label: Riot Fest

In the mid 90's, East Coast hardcore punk emerged as a distinct, aggressive style.  Primarily defined by deep, bellowing vocals, and speedy, melodic guitars, the genre's larger than life, anthemic choruses always get me singing along.  Bands like the Bouncing Souls and H2O led the pack in the 90's, and as a testament to the style's staying power, such bands' continue releasing new albums.  With all of the changes in punk over the past decade, East Coast Hardcore has become a timeless style yet to fall from favour.  But the classics aren't the only bands keeping the genre alive.  As a testament to the genre's health, new bands like Chicago's Shot Baker continue emerging.

Although further west than most of their obvious influences, Shot Baker has an irrefutably East Coast Hardcore sound.  Upon hearing the first track of their new album Take Control, "Short On Time," lead vocalist Tony Kovacs' deep, consistent bellow welcomes comparison to Bouncing Souls' frontman Greg Attonito.  But Kovacs' likenesses spans deeper the the Souls.  The next track, "Falling Apart," has a distinct disjointed abruptness between words, and consistently higher pitch - characteristics easily making Kovacs mistakable for the Boston's Street Dogs' Mike McColgan.  But unlike the aforementioned bands, Shot Baker backs up Kovacs' vocals with a coarser, less melodic brand of East Coast hardcore, almost reminiscent of early H2O albums.  It's a subtle difference, but the conflicting vocal and instrumental styles help the band from sounding like a simple clone of any one of their influences.

Still, I doubt Take Control, will garner particular attention.  Despite putting notes in all the right places, the band never quite writes a truly memorable song.  Songs like "Just in Case" and "Sick of Promises" try providing anthemic, sing along choruses, but don't have enough differentiation between verse and chorus.  The band comes disappointingly close to reaching such aspiration in tracks like "All Paths Lead Nowhere" and "Setting Sun."  Should the band have added sweeping backup "woahs" for the choruses these songs could have been instant classics.  Put differently, most songs provide momentary satisfaction, but lack lasting appeal.

Shot Baker's new album provides an enjoyable but generic ode to East Coast Hardcore.  Clocking in at just over 28 minutes, Take Control is an easy listen and doesn't require an extensive time investment.  But despite these shortcomings, fans of H2O, Bouncing Souls, and other traditional East Coast Hardcore acts should definitely take notice.