Recently, the scene of hardcore-punk has become a stagnant cesspool of monotony. Out of the thousands of bands playing "hardcore" music, there is only a hand-full that have the audacity to do something different. California's melodic punk/hardcore hybrid Set Your Goals is one of those bands and upstart label Straight On Records (The Warriors, Go it Alone) has taken notice.
Set Your Goals draw from a slightly different pool of influences than the rest of their Bay Area peers. Instead of taking notes from aggressive acts like Madball and Integrity, the band looks up to CIV and Reach the Sky. Of course with the moniker Set Your Goals, it's not surprising they take influence from CIV, whose 1995 release was titled just that.
The album opens with "Reset (Intro)" which is just that - a typical intro track that is accentuated by the upbeat drumming of Mikey and invigorating guitar of Jordan. The intro definitely got me excited for what was to come; I quickly found myself bobbing my head. The intro moves right into the next track, "How 'bout no Scott?," which bears a resemblance to the style The Movielife tackled on This Time Next Year. The vocal team of Matt and Jordan work back and forth - trading off verses containing catchy melodies, nasal yells, and the occasional harsh scream. While normally I would contend that the dual-vocalist shtick is played out, I must affirm that Set Your Goals pulls it off very well.
Unlike the previous track, a melodic punk ditty, "Goonies Never Say Die" shows signs of influence from the genre of hardcore. The track opens with a "breakdown." I use that word lightly because you wouldn't hear it on a Hatebreed record, but still bears enough resemblance to warrant the designation. The drum work of Mikey is very proficient throughout. It's nice to hear drumming that isn't buried away in the mix. The same goes with the bass playing of Israel. It is very rare these days to hear a mix where the bass playing is prevalent. The track closes with a nice sing-along: "Your face never looked so sad / No need to worry 'cuz I'll be back / I'm just tired of the same routine / I need to find what it is waiting out there for me."
"Sharptooth" is short and sweet, made up of equal parts fast-paced punk and hardcore. This is my least favorite track from the EP; I think it lacks the fun and appeal of the others. Fortunately, "Latchkey" picks up the slack. Like the majority of the material on the EP, there is a mixture of melodic pop-punk and hardcore. It wouldn't surprise me to hear the song sandwiched between Blink 182 and New Found Glory on the radio. But I also wouldn't put it past a hardcore kid to have a copy of this EP sitting on a shelf between Refused and Strife.
Lyrically, the album does contain some of the cliche punk/hardcore topics of unity and positivism. But there is also moments of maturity touching on real life situations.
It is surprising to discover that this release is in actuality just the band's demo re-packaged. The production quality is very impressive. Zach Ohren has done an incredible job once again, as he has done with plenty of other underground sensations from the Bay Area hardcore and punk scenes.
The bottom-line is Set Your Goals are at the point where they can choose their own destiny. They can either stay close to home and continue on as local sensations or keep pursuing their dreams and make the jump to the inevitable stardom that is within their grasp.
