The Matchup – Straight To The Core LP (Hell For Breakfast Records)

If you paid close attention to these pages this week, you probably realized that Hell For Breakfast carries loads of good groups/artists on their roster. Literally, everything I heard so far bursts with outstanding quality, and to be honest, I could listen to their bands over and over again without getting bored. But wait, what about acoustic setups? So far, I have listened to the groups whose sound included high gain distortion over their tunes from scratch to finish. Well, Hell For Breakfast got you covered if you’re into acoustic punk rock, and just like the remainder of their catalog, their acoustic artists are great too. The Matchup is a perfect example of my statement. This particular duo consists of Sébastien Filiatrault and Bruno Longpré, two experienced musicians who possess all the tools of the trade to write, compose and record the proper acoustic punk rock tunes. Since the inception of this interesting duo, The Matchup has released four albums, such as Turbo Power Excellent, Alternative To Metal, Cool Your Djent, and Straight To The Core. Therefore, today I will talk about their latest effort, Straight To The Core, released by Hell For Breakfast Records back in 2018.

Straight To The Core is the fourth full-length material by The Matchup. This particular material contains eleven flawlessly executed acoustic punk rock songs. The duo incorporates several complementary genres to sonically illustrate all the ideas they intended to include within these eleven tunes. The Matchup dominantly explores melodic punk rock, pop-punk, indie folk, and indie rock, but you may also hear some other genres included along the way. Their sound resembles something that the renowned groups who released their music on Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph, Nitro, Go Kart, and other well-known labels would eventually record throughout their careers but adapted for acoustic guitars. Still, it seems these guys are leaning towards a more contemporary melodic punk rock sound, and they rather remain in those waters than exploring the nineties punk rock sound. The group emits profoundly dynamic chord progressions all the way through, while the layer of thoughtfully assembled melodies, harmonies, and other polyphonic virtuosities decorate each composition. Their vocals are mainly semi-distorted during each song, but there are more clean-sounding chants and singalongs included throughout the album as well.

Straight To The Core unquestionably deserves your attention if you’re into detailed, melodic, singalongish acoustic punk rock tunes, and acoustic duos like The Matchup are ultra-rare because their music draws a fine line between melodies and aggression. Straight To The Core is available on vinyl, so head over to Hell For Breakfast Records for more detailed information about ordering.