Even in the allegedly unpretentious world of hardcore, the dreaded term Supergroup occasionally rears it’s head. And JTB are apparently just that featuring ex members of Handsome, Texas Is The Reason and Jawbreaker. And given those band names, you’d be right in guessing that this isn’t the “warrrggh I’m going rip your head off” style of hardcore. This is from the melodic side of things.

And it’s not bad, with opener Crown Of The Valley being a particularly sublime piece of work. Hard yet with enough melodic and pop styling, it features a classically simple riff. And that’s sets the scene for the rest of the album. The first 3 or 4 songs, Morning New Disease, Resistance is Futile and Starry Configurations sustain the quality.

There are times that I think of Bad Religion, especially on Resistance is Futile. Musically it’s not the same, but the lyrics sometimes make you think of that verbose “intellectual” feel that Greg Graffin has become infamous for, and some of the phrasing and raspy style of the vocals. And what is the melody that runs through Conrad that I’m trying to remember. God that gets irritating. Thing is, as it approaches the middle of the album, things are slowing downing and it’s becoming introspective. Stuff that takes time to settle. Then King Medicine picks things up again and the quality shines through again. It feels inconsistent, but, the more I listen, the more clearer it becomes. It’s an album where I get the feeling it’s going to take maybe a few months for me to really know what I think. A grower I believe is the term often used. This could be, or it could turn out to be patchy, moments of genius surrounded by moments of averageness. I’m reminded of the last Social Distortion studio album, which I thought was cack to start with, and a couple of months later I couldn’t stop playing!

The cover is cack though, which is why that isn’t a picture of it up by there.

Available on JadeTree records.