Reviewed on May 8, 2008 by Roel

If you do not know who Ben Weasel is, there are two possibilities:
- You are new to the punk scene or haven’t been listening to punk rock for too long.
- You’ve been living under a rock for the biggest part of your life. You should be ashamed of yourself!

For those who fall under category number one; Ben Weasel was the frontman of legendary pop-punk band Screeching Weasel. This band arguably started the subgenre of pop-punk and is indirectly responsible for basically every Blink 182, Green Day or Fallout Boy clone you hear on the radio today. Needless to say, their influence has been and still is huge. Unfortunately, the band broke up several years ago. Luckily for us, Ben Weasel teamed up with two members of the All-American Rejects and Dan Adriano of Alkaline Trio fame.

The result is rather predictable: we get treated with 14 songs that sound like the poppiest bits of Screeching Weasel thrown together to create a deliciously catchy whole. Ben Weasel sounds a bit more in tune than he did on any of the Screeching Weasel records. Rumor has it he has been taking singing lessons recently, though I have no source to confirm it. His back-up band sounds very tight, though nobody will be surprised considering the names involved. All members know how to play and write a good melodic song and have no trouble to adapt to Ben Weasel’s style.
Production wise it sounds excellent and a lot cleaner than anything Screeching Weasel has ever released. This is only logical of course, as the album is recorded in 2007 and not in the late 80’s. It suits this kind of music perfectly though, making the melodies sound perfectly.
Lyrically, it’s not really innovative what Ben Weasel wrote, but it doesn’t needs to be. Songs about life, love and society is what he’s always been delivering and it suits him well.

Are there really no flaws to be found then? Some songs aren’t as catchy as I would like them to be. I can also get a little bit annoyed with Ben Weasel’s vocals, now that the music sounds a lot cleaner. It makes it a little hard for me to listen to the album from start to finish.

Ben Weasel’s second album “These Ones Are Bitter” is a deliciously catchy collection of pop punk songs. This is the way pop punk was meant to be and what better way is there to portray it than by the master himself. Although Ben Weasel may never become an excellent singer, it doesn’t change the fact that his songwriting skills are top notch. We can only hope for a Screeching Weasel reunion. In case that’s not going to happen anytime soon, let’s at least hope that Ben Weasel will keep on writing albums like “These Ones Are Bitter”. If you will excuse me now, I need to go listen to “ My Brain Hurts”.

Related Links:

• www.myspace.com/benweasel27

1. Let Freedom Ring
2. In A Few Days
3. Got My Number
4. Happy Saturday
5. Sour All Over
6. The First Day Of Spring
7. Blue Is The Ocean
8. Affected By You
9. Jeanette
10. Addiditon By Subtraction
11. Give It Time
12. Summer's Always Gone Too Soon
13. In A Bad Place
14. Only In November

Album Reviews

These Ones Are Bitter Oct 23, 2007