Unwritten Law
The freewheeling rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle was unkind to Unwritten Law. Once a wide-eyed, skateboarding pop-punk quintet fond of crafting sickly-sweet lyrics like, “Hey little girl look what you do/Oh I love you,” the rigors of touring and the excess that accompanies success turned the band into a prime candidate for Behind the Music tragedy.
But as those VH1 sob stories often show, the wasted and dejected have a habit of capitalizing on their poor decision-making, and Unwritten Law is no exception.
Here’s to the Mourning is a dark, dynamic album that adds more than a morsel of realism to the pop-punk genre. Frontman Scott Russo and his cohorts are men among boys, sounding like on-the-wagon ex-druggies and alkies whose contemporaries have yet to try their first beer (whether they’re actually on the wagon or not).
Sonically, the album reflects the band’s chameleon-like ability to fit current trends in hard rock. In the case of Here’s to the Mourning, the sound is slightly metallic and occasionally electronic. Splashes of acoustic guitar, strings, a few funky beats and big-money production mix with slightly-snarled vocals to create a vibe halfway between too-tame pop-punk and real punk.
Melodies are mostly minor but still infectious. Honest-to-god hooks abound, and most of the songs are concise enough that listening to the album start-to-finish doesn’t get tedious (a rare quality in this genre of Best Buy rawk).
Even rarer in its genre is Unwritten Law’s genuinely weighty lyrical content. Here’s to the Mourning (complete with a cover featuring folk-art drawings of your favorite chemical vices) would make a great soundtrack to MTV’s Laguna Beach, if Kristin and Stephen treated their teen angst with equal parts booze and Quaaludes.
A sensitive Russo reflects on his sketchy past in “Save Me (Wake up Call),” a modestly daring first single: “Went to the doctor and I asked her to make this stop/ Got medication, a new addiction, f—in’ thanks a lot,” sings Russo.
It’s these times when Russo sounds like the “don’t make my mistakes” motivational speaker for the new “new school” punk generation. At other times his after-school special sounding lyrics suggest that maybe he hasn’t yet extinguished his addiction to the party-till-you-pass out lifestyle.
Dangerous glorification continues in “Slow Dance”: “Slow dance, take a chance with me/ Take off your pants with me.”
Nonetheless, Here’s to the Mourning marks Unwritten Law as consistently capable tunesmiths. And hopefully Scott Russo’s cautionary tales won’t backfire, inspiring more than a few 15-year-olds to put down their Mountain Dew and pick up a Miller High Life.
