Stole Your Woman

The Scene

[3/5] While Stole Your Woman may not be one of the most prolific monikers for a band, the name of their second full-length release, The Scene, is a grand summation of 12 culminating, meaty, traditional pop-punk tracks without the anarchy and heavy-syllable drawl. However, a riff-heavy, rapid-drum stupor finds SYW throwing nods to old-school punk rhetoric. These loyal traditionalists haven’t forgotten their roots, as with the title track (“The scene is something I can’t outgrow”) tackling a sound made popular via ’90s punk heavyweights Goldfinger and the slapstick vocal melodies of Less Than Jake. Yet, this California quartet also ponder the mysteries of fleeting, heartbreaking dames and their dastardly ways on “The Touch” and the ever-popular “going nowhere fast” metaphor on “Hold On,” all while maintaining the nostalgic, fast-paced cadence habituated by the genre. Looks like someone did their pop-punk research… (TAKEOVER; takeoverrock.com) Jennifer Sica