Reviews

From the opening acoustic based Work In Progress, Set Your Goals make it clear that a new level is being attained, old rules are being ignored, and that, win or lose, it’s all on them.  Work In Progress jumps from Dashboard confessions to NFG power to Stretch Arm Strong circle pits and pile-ons (one might say from pop-punk to pop-punk to pop-hardcore) but with two overlapping vocalists, a formidable rhythm section, and instantly memorable guitars, the mixture and the method produces legendary results.
 
From WIP, Set Your Goals slam right into We Do It For The Money - a nasal pop punk vocal aficionado's wet dream.  Harmonies dip and rise, the drums keep a frantic pace and then -
 
Dead Men Tell No Tales comes in “so loud, so loud, ringing in my head.”  This song really plays up the whole ‘pirate’ theme of Mutiny, and that is a weakness.  Who wants to sing along with the line “a pirate’s life for me”?  Even if it leads directly (directly!) into-
 
The title track is a real white whale of a song.  As Jordan and Matt alternate inspiring and witty lines and at least one Goonies quote (“down here it’s our time”) the band gallops along like a pop hardcore band possessed.  There is a nice juicy chugga chugga  breakdown, some gang vocals, screaming, hardcore talking voices, catchy choruses, and railing against the music industries.  By the time Mutiny! fades out around the four minute mark, minds will be made up.  Set Your Goals have, in their first four tracks of their debut LP, written the soundtrack of the summer.
 
SYG are a five piece from the bay area in Northern California, but you can hear New Jersey’s Saves The Day, Florida’s easycore champions A New Found Glory, Philadelphia’s Kid Dynamite, Chicago’s Fall Out Boy, and South Carolina’s Stretch Arm Strong.  They tenuously walk the gap between total pop-punk indulgence and their hardcore roots, and like any trapeze artist their act deserves respect and admiration.
 
Set Your Goals spend a lot of time talking about themselves, their music, and occasionally, another topic.  An Old Book Misread is a personal confrontation with organized religion and the indoctrination forced upon the offspring of its membership.  “Organized crime comes in more forms than one and your god is no exception” is a pretty straight forward condemnation, especially from a band that cloaks its critiques of the music industry behind pirate metaphors, but hey, it works, and is a great song.
 
Hands down, the single most brain burrowing sound I’ve heard all year is the opening line of To Be Continued.  The whole song is great, don’t get me wrong, but I could just listen to that first line over and over all day.  Undistorted guitar plus high pitched but sweet vocals times the promise of power to come equals supremely exciting.
 
Mutiny! is eleven tracks, half an hour, and every summer drive with your friends to the show that you’ve been waiting forever for.  Set Your Goals may dress up in pirate garb for their promo photo on the inside of the LP, but they aren’t joking around with their music.  Mutiny! is a must have for fans of pop-punk/hardcore that shows you don’t need a major label to release a major album.