Search - Set Your Goals :: Mutiny

Set Your Goals - Mutiny!

RaisedOnSpitalfield | (South) Medford, Oregon 5-4-1 | 10/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Up Side: Melodic hardcore pop-punk (emphasis on the pop and punk) the way New Found Glory used to do it before hitting the big time. Mutiny's first single of the same name is instantly memorable, and We Do It For The Money, OBVIOUSLY is a punk rock gem (52 seconds in length, and not a single moment wasted). To be honest, most of the material on Mutiny! is as enjoyable as it's first single, making the entire record a complete and rewarding listen.



The Down Side: Mutiny! is too short! 9 songs, 2 intros and 28 minutes simply isn't enough for an LP, even if most of the material is stellar. A couple more songs would have rounded things out nicely.



The Flip Side: Those who hate pop-punk will be impressed with Set Your Goals' authentic hardcore influence. Those who hate Hardcore may be drawn in by the pop sensibility this band embraces. It's a win, win situation.



The Conclusion: Set Your Goals are quickly becoming a favorite at your local record store and web zine, so go ahead and give them a try. If pop-punk/hardcore is your thing, and you miss NFG, what have you got to lose?



The End."

Best album of the year (so far...)

VeloriumCamper | Suffern, New York | 07/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Set Your Goals is a Pop-Punk band with Hardcore influences, hailing from California, and calling Eulogy Records home (at this moment in time). In 2004, they released the highly appreciated "Reset" EP in which they mixed hardcore and pop-punk to form a sound not heard at all in the scene right now. Many people may be ignorant and say that "Set Your Goals sounds like every band around right now", which is very untrue. Set Your Goals are doing something different, something that hasn't been heard in years, since the days of (old) Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Lifetime. With the release of this year's full length "Mutiny!", Set Your Goals stick to their guns and come out with one of, if not the best album of the year, in my humble opinion.



The album starts of with the song "Work In Progress", which features an acoustic beginning, and then gradually rising in tempo and intensity and turns into a fast paced opener, with spoken vocals and moral like lyrics. ("..because life is about doing the process and not the result"). One of my favorite components of this album is what I like to call "transition songs". The tracks "Dead Men Tell No Tales" "Don't Let This Win Over You" and even "Work In Progress" into "We Do It For The Money, Obviously!" all showcase this introduction of some sort, to the next full track, that get you all pumped up and excited for the following number, which I love. The middle tracks ("Mutiny" "This Song Is Definitely Not About A Girl" "An Old Book Misread" "This Very Moment") all contain lyrics aimed at big corporations, and major labels, giving a psued0-speech to them, and how they will not "ruin" the band or make them "sell out". Now as these topics may seem childish and quite played out, Set Your Goals does it well, and wants you to have fun and focus not on the depth of the lyrics but the energy they give off. "This Very Moment", a track released earlier in the year as a demo, is one of the best songs on the album, and really shows what Set Your Goals is all about. Intensity, energy, gang vocals, and even a breakdown.



One thing that intrigues me about this album is that the ending to it is the best part. As I have seen throughout the year so far, many of the albums released have their best tracks at the beginning and then fade out towards the end, which really turns me off when listening to an album. "To Be Continued..." many listeners favorite song, has one of the best melodies of the year, and you can't help but sing-a-long to the song...all...day. The album ends with the track "Echoes" also one of the best songs on the album, and also released earlier in the year as a demo. The "da, da, da, da, da" ending to this track reminds me of classic Blink-182 and New Found Glory tracks which is a breath of fresh air. With the recent success of My Chemical Romance, The Used, Underoath, and other such bands, showcasing an image greatly accepted amongst today's youth, Set Your Goals provides us with something fun, new, catchy, fresh, energetic, and everything in between.



The production on the album is pretty good, and definitely adds to the quality of the album, although I would've liked to hear a bit rawer sound than what is given. The demos of the tracks on the album were better than the finished products in my opinion, which is the only complaint I really have about this album. One other thing is how short the album is, but this doesn't really get on my nerves too bad because that is the style of music that Set Your Goals plays, and this allows them to do that. If you have a passion for music, and want something fun for the summer, and quite good, then pick this album up. I understand that you might not like it as much as I do, and might not think it's the best album or one of the best album's of the year, but I'm almost positive you will like it. Just sit back, relax, grab a glass of lemonade, and listen to this album, and try not to dance, sing, or bob along to one song, and if you can't, well then you must be lying, or have some type of disease or something."