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The Wonder Years / All or Nothing – Distances

Release Date: March 10, 2009 on No Sleep Records

Who?

If there is one thing I’m a sucker for, it’s pop punk with gang vocals and hardcore breakdowns. Therefore it’s probably no surprise I was excited to listen to the latest split from The Wonder Years and All or Nothing, two bands that fall under that very category. Unlike with a lot of splits, both bands play the exact same type of music. The biggest differences are probably just their locations. The Wonder Years hail from Philly and All or Nothing on the other hand actually hail from the UK but they do it just as good, if not better than their American peers. Ultimately both bands came together for this 7” vinyl split and have made a great pop punk sprinkled with hardcore effort.

How is it?

Awesome, I knew I’d love it and I was right! The two Wonder Years songs “An Elegy of Baby Blue” and “Don’t Open the Fridge!” reminded me a lot of Four Year Strong songs, if only for the synthesizers. Other than that, The Wonder Years are much more pop punk and don’t have the same heavy breakdowns. Both songs still have crunchy guitars and gang vocals alongside sing along choruses though. All or Nothing’s songs “I’m Not Being Rude, But I Could Have Had Your Job” and “Summer Vacation in Providence” on the other hand remind me more of New Found Glory but either way, they don’t differ much from The Wonder Years. This is probably the ultimate downside, while I’m a huge fan of these sorts of bands I know there are lots of them and I know they aren’t overly original. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would listen to this and think that it was by all the same band, not two which says a lot about the originality. If you’re like me, don’t miss this release, they are some great choruses here to sing along with! Though if not, best to leave this one be. If you aren’t a fan of their more popular peers, you won’t be a fan of them either because they all sound so very similar.

Final Verdict? 4/5

Review by Deborah Remus