Review
The Bomb
Speed is Everything

No Idea (2009) Loren

The Bomb – Speed is Everything cover artwork
The Bomb – Speed is Everything — No Idea, 2009

Considering how much I've heard about the Naked Raygun reunion, you'd think there would be more buzz regarding The Bomb. Speed is Everything is the Jeff Pezzati led group's first release for No Idea Records. When compared with Pezzati's more renowned group, I was expecting a more contemporary twist. Instead, The Bomb has a strong 80's feel to it, with dark guitars reminiscent of the more moody new wave bands. Superseding that, however, is the strong drive of melodic punk.

"The Rescue" may exemplify the band's sound best. It features a steady, prominent rhythm, with haunting guitars laying over them as Pezzati sings, "Then I come to your rescue" in a tuneful call. As the song progresses, the volume increases and the tempo steadily increases into a melodic punk number with a personal feel to the vocals that is easy to sing along to. While the structure is more complicated than your average genre fare, the song just never really gets that interesting beyond the melody. At its core elements, it succeeds, but it never really gets off the ground to fully energize the listener.

Songs such as "Spaceman" and "Blown Away" relay the energy much more effectively with less repetition and less reliance on "oh-ohs" to convey the melody. The band does mix things up, with some nice screaming in "Integrity" that emphasizes the point without beating you over the head, and the pace shifting "Song for the Helenas," which is has a strong 80's feel to it that somewhat blunts the rising flow of the record.

Pezzati's voice is definitely the album's highpoint, with his ability to deliver a forceful melody without interrupting the flow of the songs. Unfortunately, nothing else strikes me much about this release. After a slow start, Speed Is Everything finishes strong, but not strong enough to win me over. Despite its shortcomings, this is the kind of music that birthed the term "melodic hardcore" and when it succeeds, it blows away most bands carrying that torch today.

6.8 / 10Loren • January 12, 2010

The Bomb – Speed is Everything cover artwork
The Bomb – Speed is Everything — No Idea, 2009

Related features

Guest Column: Poli van Dam (The Bombpops)

Regular Columns • October 22, 2017

The Bombpops

One Question Interviews • April 30, 2017

Related news

BeachLife 2024 stripped down stage fully announced

Posted in Shows on February 26, 2024

Jen Razavi (The Bombpops) solo

Posted in Bands on April 30, 2023

T1 Fest (free) livestream

Posted in Shows on October 17, 2020

Recently-posted album reviews

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more

Various Artists

Her Head's On Fire/Arms Like Roses - Split
Double Helix (2025)

Her Head’s On Fire (NY, NY) and Arms Like Roses (New Haven, CT) team up on this split 7” with two new tracks (one each band) of post-hardcore tunes that are both massive and melodic in their own distinct ways. "Universal" is the track from Her Head’s On Fire. Recorded by the band’s guitarist Jeff Dean, "Universal" came from the … Read more

Dead Bars

All Dead Bars Go To Heaven
Iodine (2025)

Dead Bars has a unique talent of taking the everyday, the experiences you see and live all the time, and shining a new light on them to make them personal and interesting. I've written about it before, yet it's my job to say this again and to make it interesting. It's what Dead Bars does, so it only seems fitting … Read more