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“Punk Goes 90s Vol. 2” breaks dismal trend

Marlon Pitter

Connector Editor

Just seven months after Fearless Records fearlessly decided to release “Punk Goes Christmas,” the “Punk Goes” compilation series made a Red Sox-esque “worst to first” turnaround with the release of “Punk Goes 90s Vol. 2” on April 1.

The newest cover album in the “Punk Goes” compilation series features covers of 12 of the most popular songs of the 1990s, including “My Own Worst Enemy” originally performed by Lit, “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day and more.

Highlights throughout the album include “All Star” covered by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk, “Everlong” performed by the Color Morale, “Du Hast” by Motionless in White, “Comedown” by Mayday Parade, “Today” by Yellowcard and “Torn” by Hands Like Houses.
The record kicks off with a rendition of “My Own Worst Enemy” played by Get Scared that adds a bit of post-hardcore but doesn’t stray from the original song’s punk-pop sound.

Through the first 15 seconds of “All Star,” Chunk! No, Captain Chunk’s cover sounds exactly like the original, but the French pop-punk band layered heavy power chords and lead guitar tracks onto the hit originally performed by Smash Mouth.

Motionless in White’s version of “Du Hast,” however, is quite the doppelganger of a cover. An already excellent and popular song by the German band Rammstein, the Pennsylvania quintet simply played it and didn’t screw it up.

“Punk Goes 90s Vol. 2” is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, however, as “Closer,” covered by Asking Alexandria, proved to be a weak track on an otherwise impressive record. Their screaming vocals have worked for them in other “Punk Goes” covers and for their own music, but “Closer” was not the song for them.

The album recovers strongly with “Torn,” performed by Hands Like Houses. The Australian rock band does not lose a single ounce of the original version’s emotion and meaning while covering it.

“Gangsta’s Paradise,” played by Falling in Reverse was also an interesting cover, to say the least. Vocalist Ronnie Radke has experience rapping; he has done so on his band’s latest album, “Fashionably Late,” and on his upcoming mixtape “Watch Me.”

This cover was not surprising, as it sounds like it could have been a “Fashionably Late” bonus track if it were recorded in 2013, but was still interesting nevertheless.

Overall, “Punk Goes 90s Vol. 2” is definitely worth a good listen and a final score of eight out of 10. The songs that were covered were great choices, but the covers were even better, as compared to the original “Punk Goes 90s” and many of the compilations that followed it.

Marlon Pitter is a former editor-in-chief of the UMass Lowell Connector. Hailing from Hartford, Conn., he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in journalism and professional writing and a digital media minor in 2017. Follow him on Twitter @marlonpresents.