5 Reasons To Love Cartel’s ‘Collider’

March 26, 2013

Cartel is back! Not only are they back, but also they have a fantastic 11-track album to get fans singing along to their signature pop punk sound. Will Pugh, Joseph Pepper, Nic Hudson and Kevin Sanders seem to have pulled together the best of Cartel for this new release, Collider.

I spent a weekend driving in my car sing-along with Collider — and I must say it’s a solid pop punk album — but also much more. Sure All Time Low has kept the genre alive recently, but Collider is the perfect balance of heartfelt lyrics, catchy melodies and anthemic choruses. If you were a fan of Cartel’s 2005 release, Chroma then this new record will hit you in all the right places. #musicrules.

Let’s break it down; here are 5 Reasons To Love Cartel’s Collider.

1. “Uninspired” & “A Thousand Suns”

I love when an album feels thought out and there’s nothing like a callback from track to track, to make it feel like a complete work. The lyrics “put all emotion aside/ no matter how hard you try/take what is buried inside/you want it, you got it you goodbye” from “Uninspired” are again featured in the closing track “A Thousand Suns.” Interesting to hear the message used again in a different way; how emo – love it!

2. “First Things First”

This track is incredibly empowering. The song delivers the message of prescience and not caring what anyone else thinks. Give it a listen, I hit repeat at least four times before I moved on to the rest of the album.

3. Will Pugh’s vocals. AMAZING!

Will has a very distinct voice and Collider highlights how powerful his range is. We might not normally dissect the vocals of a pop punk record, but his voice is what makes Cartel stand out. It’s pure and effortless. He holds notes, harmonizes and pushes out tales of learning and growing beautifully. I especially love the vocal work on the 8th track, “Mosaic” and the albums’ title track “Collider”. I was singing along as loud as possible in my car with Will during the chorus.

4. Pure pop punk y’all. AKA, just what YOU want.

Pop punk is the bread and butter for anyone who grew up counting to down the days to Warped Tour. Pop punk is where Buzznet finds common ground among all the other music we love. Collider is a complete pop punk record; catchy, anthemic and lyrically will empower you. This will 100% be an album to blast all year long.

5. Well worth the 4-year wait for a full-length.

In a live chat with our sister site AbsolutePunk.net Will revealed to fans this new record was “captured as pure as they can get.” He went on to explain, “think that’s the biggest contributing factor to this record – that it’s pure, free of outside influences. I don’t think any of that will make sense until you hear the record but that’s the explanation.”

The honesty in the song “Unispired” is refreshing. As a music fan, it’s easy to hear where an album is genuine and where it’s been manipulated. Simply put, Collider is a genuine and fun record. The gap between records and time away has given Cartel the opporutniity to zoom in on what makes them special and find something worth singing about.

Collider is all I could hope for from Cartel in 2013.

Excited to see them live at Skate and Surf in May — and tonight you can tune into their StageIt record release party. Fans can purchase Collider on iTunes now and please come back to let me know what you think!