Like every other ska-punk band,
Five Iron Frenzy doesn't have much subtlety, whether it's in their music or their humor.
Our Newest Album Ever!, the group's second album, is awash with predictable, heavy-handed skanking riffs and silly, frat-boy jokes. In short, it's a lot like any other ska-punk album that was released since 1994. For a group of bands that pride themselves on thier individuality, it's a little weird that almost every ska-punk group sounds exactly alike. There is no difference between
Five Iron Frenzy,
Buck-O-Nine or
Reel Big Fish, whose breakthrough hit "Sell Out"
Five Iron Frenzy inexplicably and eerily echo with this album's first single, "Handbook for the Sellout." If you like anything that sounds like this -- be it the
Less Than Jake,
Goldfinger or
Save Ferris -- you'll undoubtedly like this, since it's essentially the same record.
Five Iron Frenzy are no better and no worse than the rest of the crowd. They are simply the status quo. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine