A pear is a tricky one – if you eat it too early, its rock hard and tastes of wood. But leave it too long and you\’re left with a sweet sticky mess. The trick it is hit it at just the right time for perfection. Well that\’s the challenge facing the band Pears. With tons and tons of influences up their sleeves it would be so easy to get the mix wrong. Fortunately on their third full album, Pears have got the fine balance of melody and power tuned just right. Taking the ingredients of the likes of Lagwagon or Good Riddance, and shake it up with some oddball Descendents/ All – esque rhythms and time changes and you\’re starting to understand the foundations of the Pears sound. There\’s a nod to Blag Flag in their logo as well, and that almost works as a secret handshake, alerting you to expect the unexpected.

Honestly just listen to opener Killing Me which flips from pop-punk, to heavy hardcore with a few technical breakdowns thrown in for fun. Just don\’t forget to breathe when taking it all in. That pretty much sets the scene for the rest of the album – non-stop blasts of passion and fury in equal measures. Lyrically there are some moments of introspection, but not always – how can you not have a huge grin on your face when the song Naptime culminates in the hardcore gang vocals commanding \”It\’s time to take a nap\” ?! I dig records like this where there is so much going on but you can appreciate it on different levels – sit with it cranked up on the headphones as you lose yourself in all of its magic, or simply kick back and just enjoy the tunes. Tom Chapman