Warning Device is an album strictly for pop-punk purists: not one of these 13 songs breaches the three-minute mark, and strong echoes of
the Mr. T Experience,
the Dickies, and
the Ramones permeate the barely half-hour disc. Actually, the last just a little too much: "In the Basement" is so dopily obvious a rewrite of "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" that the legal team for da bruddahs should ask for royalties. Aside from that misstep, however,
Warning Device is old-school pop-punk done up right, with equal emphasis on the pop side of the hyphen, as shown in the boyishly lovestruck lyrics of tunes like "Gave You My Heart" and "She's Not the One."
Teenage Bottlerocket is in no way out to reinvent the pop-punk wheel, which makes
Warning Device an album strictly of interest to the existing cadre of fans of the style, but on the other hand, the complete lack of emo, metal, or other fashionable contemporary touches is exceedingly refreshing.