The fourth release by US rockers Bingo Boys is called “Freak Out and Leave” and is a twenty-minute experience that hooked me on more than hour-long records. The songs are fun and easy to follow and barely reach two minutes in duration and they take influence from a lot of popular bands and fan-favorite songs.
The first four songs on the album: Sick Thing, Donuts, Ugly Man, and Still A While show some amazing guitar work that reminds me of The Offspring and basslines that remind me of Nirvana‘s Bleach era. I really love how the combination is seamless and the elements feel connected to make a coherent sound. The drums play fast and complex beats, with lines that serve the bass and drums well. The vocalist showed an amazing range of abilities here from screaming to soft singing to the effects and processing which make him sound like he’s making a statement in a protest or a riot. The following two tracks On and Fake It take a more pure-punk direction and will remind you of the good old days of The Dead Kennedys and The Sex Pistols with their chunky bass riffs and chaotic drumming.
Over/Under is another one of those protest songs and then comes Relief, which is a relatively slower track but it still carries all the great punky influences. Stuck has my favorite chorus of the whole record. Nice is the largest track here, and that gives it space to have tons of dynamics that make it spicier. Bong Sweat and Methmouth go back to the chaotic punk and grunge mix from before, which was much needed at this point. The final track Roll has a ton of angst and anger in the vocals, making it a great album closer.
For most of us, Grunge was a genre that was often overlooked. Some rock fans who haven’t lived to attend the grunge treated it like a transitional period or dismissed it altogether. While part of that is the mistake of non-innovative bands too, there have been some great grunge albums that didn’t get the recognition and support they deserved. Thirty-something years after this whole issue had passed, the spectrum of rock music was rich and large and full of influences to pick and choose from, and Indianapolis-based rockers Bingo Boys have made a great mix of punk and grunge that’s worth your while and will stay in your playlist for weeks and weeks.