Review Summary: Keep this to yourself? Yeah right.
2009/2010 has been two of the strongest years for Pop Punk since the 1990s, and my native New England has proved to be a hotspot for huge Pop Punk bands. When you think “New England Pop Punk” the first few bands that might come to mind are Four Year Strong and A Loss For Words. Be prepared to add Transit to this list of New England Pop Punk you’ll love, and completely go against the title of this album and tell everyone you know about how great this album is.
I have had the honor of seeing Transit twice, and they truly put on a great live show. XTOUGHXGUYX type people are for the most part not there and their set is entirely group singalongs and stage dives, and you don’t have the fear of some douchebag landing a spinkick to your mouth.
If you are a long-time fan of Transit you will see a ton of production improvement. First off, vocals have drastically improved. Two of the best vocal tracks are “Footwork” and the re-vamped “Please Head North” will basically make you realize this if you listened to the original on their split with Man Overboard. “Footwork” employs a chorus that uses a tasteful mix of singing and borderline shouting that is pulled off perfectly employing a wonderful balance between aggression and melody without getting annoying, missing are obnoxious chugga-chugga breakdowns, the overuse of gang-vocals, and those cross into Metalcore, “***ing move!” pieces. Guitars feel incredibly full on each song, Bass is audible, and drums are incredibly tasty, drummer Daniel Frazier can employ a roll that will stay in your mind for a while and make you say “Damn, that was good!”
The lyrics are also top-notch and relatable. PS represents a person’s struggle with friendship, moving on, and happiness. A couple of the best verses on this album are from this song. But these are my own opinions, go and listen to the album and find yourself your favorites. The other song to point out is Love is ______, which is also one of my favorite songs in this album in which Joe Boynton proclaims “I always knew that I would live and die in Boston, when I was 5 I put my hands into cement”
This album is another shot to the nuts of people who go “Pop-Punk is dead,” sure a ton of ‘scene’ sensations have gone big with a general lack of talent and creativity, one just needs to dive deeper in the genre instead of just scratching the surface. Keep This To Yourself is by-far one of the best Pop-Punk releases of the year 2010 and if you’re one of those Pop Punk fanatics you will find it hard not to like this.
