If you're after the perfect album for a teenage summer, then there's not much better you could do than All I Have To Offer... Brimming with an energy untarnished by anything less than a rollicking set of feel-good pop punk anthems, Fireworks make it their sole mission to drag kids kicking and screaming out from whichever dark, angry hole they've dug themselves and into the sunlight of their wistful playground of emotionally aggressive fun. Infused with a hardcore ethos drawn from fellow bands like Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong, what is on offer here, title aside, is a slew of wispy, bouncing guitar lines that flail playfully around David Mackinder's poignantly innocent lyrics. There's a certain nostalgia here too, but only just enough to make All I Have To Offer... the album you'll look back on and say 'hey, now that - that was a good time' with a tinge of heartfelt warmth and memory. While it may not be on the cutting edge of the scene, with its constant tsunamis of catchy, Yeti-sized chorus and way-above-the-standard songwriting, its one of the most gloriously infectious albums to creep up from the sidelines of '09 - and to do anything but revel in its light would be a crime against all that is awesome.
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