Square Shapes – All Your Friends EP (People Of Punk Rock Records)

Square Shapes are striking once again with their latest offering to the broader auditorium. We covered their previous recording named After The Fact on our pages that gathered a lot of positive critics among the melodic punk rock scene. For those unfamiliar with Square Shapes, these island of Kauai, Hawaii natives are delivering profoundly energetic punk rock music that sometimes resembles the glorious nineties skate punk era. However, that’s not necessarily the case all the time, since the group also includes some contemporary music trends to spice things up a little bit.

All Your Friends represents a mini album or EP comprised of six compositions, and Epic Day comes as a bonus track. Judging by the overall sound, this complete material goes a step further comparing to After The Fact. Don’t get me wrong, After The Fact sound just fine, but it seems that production on All Your Friends cherishes all the instrumentations in the mix. Each involved instrument is equally hearable, and you can detect even the slightest note performed on bass guitar or notice every guitar lick along the way. The same goes for the rhythm section, lead vocals, back vocals, and singalongs. The complete material has more depth, compactness, stamina, and it seems that sound is more uniformed than on their previous recordings.

This particular material wipes off all the distinctions between melodic hardcore and skate punk music. These compositions are urging you to stagedive into the crowd, but at the same time forcing you to sing along during the additive choruses. It can be your next soundtrack for skateboarding sessions because it has that potential as well. Square Shapes gave the platform to the listeners to perceive this material in every possible way, and it confidently initiates loads of possibilities. At particular moments, All Your Friends resembles the sound of some renowned heavyweights of the genre, such as Pennywise, 98 Mute, Satanic Surfers, Adhesive, Model American, Chaser…plus many others. Nevertheless, Square Shapes are incorporating a lot of signature moves throughout the album, so those comparations are serving more like necessary guidance.

As far as I am informed, All Your Friends comes as a digital album, so there are currently no other details about possible physical release. These compositions deserve at least compact disc treatment, mainly because of the effort Square Shapes invested in their songs. Until then, check out All Your Friends at People Of Punk Rock Records Bandcamp page.