Pennywise- Full Circle

Full Circle is Pennywise's fourth album. It was released in 1997, two years after Home Movies.

Oi-punk isn't really my cup of tea. Therefore it's no surprise that I find Fight Till You Die, Date With Destiny, Get A Life, You'll Never Make It and Nowhere Fast to be an indistinctive wall of noise. It doesn't help that the lyrics are hard to understand and the sound is quite "thin". Broken is the exception. I have no idea what makes it different, but I do quite like it.

Maybe it's sacrilegious, but I much prefer the slower, riff-rock style. Society has a fantastic instrumental intro, and the groove carriers nicely into the song. And the contrast it brings means I actually enjoy the fast-paced energy of the chorus for a change. Final Day follows the same recipe but somehow leaves me cold. What If I is another great song, and I guess proves it's not a fluke! Every Time also uses light-and-shade to great effect, resulting in a very enjoyable song.

The tempo of Bro Hymn jumps around over the place. The musicianship and recording quality are both very amateur-hour. Many of the lyrics are unintelligible... objectively there are many flaws... but, just knowing that it's an one to a young departed friend is more than enough. And that timeless singalong chorus riff conveys more emotion than mere words ever could. It all makes for a flawed and beautiful song.

Favourite songs

Society, Broken, Every Time, What If I, Bro Hymn Tribute

I diggit?

Tough call. Punk-rock takes time for the subtleties to emerge, so I made the effort to listen to this album many times, desperately hoping for something special to reveal itself. In the end, there were a few songs I liked, but it's still an album I'd rarely be inspired to listen to. So, in the end, the answer is "not really".