Forever Came Calling

Contender

Let’s face it, New Found Glory and Senses Fail aren’t getting any younger, so there’s reason to celebrate a new crop of pop-punk heroes coming up through the all-ages clubs and local dive bars to take the throne of wagged tongues and youthful over-exuberance. Enter Handguns, Mixtapes, and, yes, Forever Came Calling. The San Bernardino, California, melodic punk band have had their name bandied about as part of the future of the posi-punk/core movement, in which bands reclaim the glory days of melodic punk when Lifetime and Kid Dynamite (and Dag Nasty and Articles of Faith before them) combined melody with passion and the-personal-is-the-political musings, creating songs that not only hit us square in the collarbones, but also had enough, well, emo in them to keep hearts pinned firmly to sleeves. Forever Came Calling roll with their galloping melodies on Contender, truly benefiting from the freedom of a full-length, where they can stretch their legs and loosen the big belt buckle on their cargo shorts a couple of notches, letting songs like “Dead Poets Honor” reverberate in their own energy. There’s not such a rush to the finish line like on their previous release (a split with Handguns), instead FCC embrace their newfound patience and poise. How else could we explain “I’ll Be Better I Promise,” which is epic in its three-plus minutes, all mid-tempo, airy and ambitious? If this is a sign of things to come, FCC could be in store for much larger venues and many more fans—and not just the ones who ride busted up BMXs to their shows.

Pure Noise http://purenoise.net

“I’ll Be Better I Promise”