Tsunami Bomb is back and stronger than ever. The Spine That Binds is the perfect follow up to The Definitive Act. It’s an album that doesn’t sound like 15 years have passed yet paradoxically is an album that the band couldn’t have put out 15 years ago. For a band that gets shoehorned into the pop-punk scene, Tsunami Bomb has always had a more mature sound. While their peers were and to some extent still are complaining about their parents, Tsunami Bomb tackled subjects that affect everyone and continues to do so.
Unlike a new Simple Plan or Good Charlotte album, The Spine that Binds doesn’t transport you back to the person you were in 2005. At the risk of over-simplifying, it’s spooky adult pop-punk. It’s not childish, but never loses its sense of fun as Tsunami Bomb tackles the haters, abusers, and sexual harassers.
Before we get started, let’s address the elephant in the room. Emily Whitehurst (Agent M) isn’t on this album. If you followed Tsunami Bomb back in the day and are rediscovering them, you may miss Agent M simply because that’s human nature. For those who have followed the band since it reformed in 2015, you have learned to love vocalist Kate Jacobi as an integral part of the group. Kate’s not trying to be Agent M, and as a fan of the group she knows that it would be foolish to try. Instead, Kate focuses on singing her heart out as fellow vocalist/keyboardist Oobliette Sparks, bassist Dominic Davi, drummer Gabe Lindeman, and newest member, guitarist Andy Pohl give some of the strongest performances of their lives.
As for The Spine That Binds, there’s not a song on the album that is disappointing. Sonically “Tidal” is a natural continuation of The Definitive Act, while the brilliantly titled “Dead Men Can’t Catcall” features the back and forth vocals from The Invasion from Within. The most straightforwardly pop-punk song on the album “The Hathors” avoids falling into a pop-punk rut by complementing standard lyrics like “You are the voice inside my head, making me doubt everything I’ve said” with “You’d see that I’m not broken. I’m just flying blind,” providing insight into cliché lyrics that one only acquires with age. While “Naysayers” and “Lullaby for the End of the World” are already fan favorites, my psychobilly-ska heart considers the “Last Call” the standout on the album for its psychobilly meets Dance Hall Crashers sound.
If you’ve never been a Tsunami Bomb fan, The Spine That Binds is the place to start. If you’ve always been a fan, it turns out that The Definitive Act wasn’t meant to be definitive after all. This is the album we’ve all been waiting for.
Rating: 10 out of 10
