Transit/Man Overboard - Split
Record Label: Pure Noise Entertainment
Release Date: December 8th, 2009
I've been familiar with New Jersey natives Man Overboard for a while now. Since they put up their Hung Up On Nothing demo for free download about a year ago, I have been following them pretty rigorously. Boston's Transit, on the other hand, was basically alien to me. I had heard good things about them, but never got a chance to check them out. So, when I heard they were putting out a split, I was pretty excited.
Transit starts off this split in the best possible way. "Please Head North" is an incredible 3 minute jam sonically reminiscent of Tell All Your Friends - era Taking Back Sunday. It's a lush, layered pop-punk song that uses dual vocals and that is so incredibly and instantly striking. The next song, "Riding The Bullet" is a longer, slower affair, but still damn good. Clocking in at just over 4 minutes, it shows that Transit has some versatility within their genre.
On the flip-side of this split, we have Man Overboard playing their insanely catchy brand of pop-punk. They start off with "I Ate My Gluestick," (a wonderful reference to The Simpsons), a song that makes great use of palm-muting to get that classic pop-punk sound. "Gluestick," and their second song "Basics 101," doesn't really deviate from their earlier work, but that's not a bad thing at all. The songs still sound great, and in the end, that's what matters. "Basic 101" does adopt a slightly heavier tone, but it doesn't sound out of place from any of their other songs. I should note that I feel as if Man Overboard might catch some flak for their lyrics. Sure, they're pretty straight forward and are not littered with complex metaphors but the lyrics are quite personal and yet they are universal at the same time, similar to those of Blink-182.
When it comes down to it, any fan of pop-punk should pick up this release, especially if you enjoy the North East sound that has been emerging in the past few years. Pick it up even if you're unfamiliar with both bands. This split introduced me to Transit, a band I subsequently fell head over heels for, and it also fanned my flames of love for Man Overboard.
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