Artist: The Bouncing Souls
Album: The Gold Record
Label: Epitaph
Tracks: 12
Reviewed By: Chaz

I am probably the worst person to review this album but I will give it a shot. I was born in New Jersey and grew up right outside of it and The Bouncing Souls always seemed to be punk rock hero's in that area and I never ever got into them. It's not that they were bad or that I didn't like them it's just I didn't hold them as high up as everyone else.

The Gold Record is The Bouncing Souls 7th (or 6th..depending on how anal you are) album. I will have to admit that almost after twenty years of being a band, they can still make good music. It's not exactly powerful or as energetic as their previous work but it shows maturity and better song structure. I saw them over the summer and they look older and not as excited as they used to be but they still put on a great show. This album can be classified as half and half. You can look at it and pull out negative things but still pull out the equal amount of positive thing. One of the bright spots is Lean On Sheena. It's the best track on the album and is followed by Letter From Iraq and is the little pinch of punk rock that the album needed.

This is an album that will sure grow on me if I give it a chance.