'No Use' trying too hard

The Feel Good Record of the Year, by No Use For A Name, sounds like the musical equivalent of Hot Topic: a place to shop if you like “angry” black clothing and T-shirts with band names, but where legit punk devotees wouldn’t be caught dead.

Their music isn’t bad, but it seems like they’re trying too hard. The sound is a little too pop-ish for No Use For A Name’s strong political and melancholy lyrics.

The opening track, “Biggest Lie,” rails against the destruction wreaked by materialism and celebrity influence. Even though the band doesn’t sound overwhelmingly pop, I couldn’t help but think that this is what Good Charlotte’s “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” would have sounded like had that band been a few years older when they wrote it.

It’s as if No Use For A Name is still searching for its sound. While the differences in the way the songs sound makes listening to The Feel Good Record of the Year interesting, the search can also go terribly awry.

“Yours to Destroy” sounds an awful lot like Ataris’ cover of “Boys of Summer,” only No Use For A Name throws in a synth track that sounds more like it was accidentally left in than added to enhance the song.

“Ontario” sounds more emo, with a gentle piano beat under soft voices singing of “waking to a nightmare, passing out and hoping for a dream.”

But No Use For A Name comes into its own when it goes acoustic on “Sleeping Between Trucks” and “Kill the Rich.” Unlike some of the earlier songs on the album, the acoustic guitar and slower, more melancholy pace of these songs mesh with the lyrics.

Think of the band as a cross between the Ataris (think So Long, Astoria) and Relient K (minus the Jesus factor), if both bands had recorded songs when they were older and a lot more depressed.

Overall, No Use For A Name’s music is enjoyable to shake your head to, provided you don’t expect a hardcore punk sound or take the lyrics too seriously.

The Feel Good Record of the Year should make for a lets-get-pumped-up opening for NOFX, coming to the Wilma Theatre along with American Steel on May 4. Sadly, tickets for the show sold out weeks ago.