I make no excuses and pull no punches when I say that the vibrato-laced/pop/rock sound of bands like Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy make me want to punch puppies. Ok, I wouldn’t ever punch a puppy but I can’t stress how much I despise that sound.

Then why am I so absorbed in Post Adolescence?

Well for one, they don’t carry the “my parents didn’t hug me enough as a child” bitterness with their music. Instead, they swing a heavy fist to rock while mixing a Ramones -meets-Omar Rodríguez-López style under a cloak of pop. As odd as that may sound, just think pretty and smart or well-read glam-rock. But take no precautions here because this is definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothing…if sheep wore clothes…

Goodbye from the Future kicks off with a rowdy, poppy sound that prompted immediate recoil. “Asexual” comes in at barely over a minute a half and quite honestly, had me wondering what in the hell I got myself in to. But then the album builds. It gradually gets more intelligent and hones in on its true purpose; to rock the hell out of us while keeping us on our toes. I won’t lie, I hated this record for about thirty seconds and now I am at a loss as to why. Actually, I can’t even find the thirty seconds I hated. After the initial shock, which probably speaks volumes to how conditioned we’ve all become to expect a certain style and sound from music, there tracks I found to be nothing short of awesome. “Hindsight” balances striking vocals on a spire of angry rock, “Blindsighted” sucked me in with a simple riff and swagger and “What You Would Call Socialism (I Would Call Civilization)” had me at “The most trusted news comes from Comedy Central.”

The thick mess that is poppy vibrato laden music can take a long walk off a short pier. But every once and a while a sound comes along that superficially walks like it, quacks like it then promptly kicks it in the balls. First up for the roshambo is Seattle’s Post Adolescence. Getting kicked in the groin was never so rewarding.

Greg is a regular contributor and co-founder at Nanobot. If ever there has been a time to learn a lesson from not trusting one’s first impression, he admits that is Post Adolescence, unless your first reaction is “awesome!”