Sugarcult's Lights Out

In the flurry of new music that has arrived on the scene in the past weeks, there appeared a disc that brought me back to my good ole pop-punk roots: Sugarcult. Yes, the fratastic foursome from Santa Barbara is back and thankfully, they have veered away from the sappy-pop sound of 2004’s Palm Trees and Power Lines. On Lights Out, the band explores a darker lyrical side and serves it up with a healthy dose of thrashing guitars and head-bobbing drum beats.
On “Los Angeles,” lead singer Tim Pagnotta satirizes the commercialism of the star-studded city, ranting relentlessly about all the things he wants in a rhyme scheme that is oh-so-elementary yet oh-so-catchy. “Riot,” the other standout track on the record, is the perfect adrenaline-packed Sugarcult song . While the song probably won’t make you want to go out and break stuff in the manor that, say, any song by the Dead Kennedy’s might, if anything, it’s a great song to race down Highway 89 to.