Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: The Planet Smashers
• Album: Unstoppable
• Label: Stomp Records
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: andyfromjersey on 2007-01-18

Unstoppable is the sixth release from Canadian third-wave ska heroes The Planet Smashers. With a career spanning over a decade, and having recently achieved much deserved recognition in the United States, these guys deliver exactly what longtime fans have come to expect. One great thing about The Planet Smashers, and especially this album, is that while their music is undoubtedly catchy, accessible pop-ska, it shies away from generic, nineteen nineties punk-with-horns that caused so many people to groan while third wave ska was at its peak in popularity. Carefully walking the line between eighties British 2-Tone era ska and today’s notoriously upbeat, pop punk based ska, The Planet Smashers avoid both the prospects of annoying purists and boring younger fans simultaneously. Catchy, happy go lucky tunes like the title track accompanied with upbeat songs like “Bullets to the Ground,” “Raise Your Glass,” “Here Come the Mods!” and “Revolution Song” keep you awake while the contemplative, melancholy track, “Giants,” (this particular reviewer’s favorite track) contrasts beautifully with the rest of a CD that might otherwise be mindless fun. The instrumental token instrumental song and its counterpart, an old Desmond Dekker style number entitled “Cool Your Jets,” remind you that you are, after all, listening to a ska record. The album ends beautifully with “Looking for a Cure,” a simple sixties style rock song with no horns to speak of that would fit in just as well on your favorite power pop album. Unstoppable is over all a fun, addictive album. It's infused with that signature Planet Smashers sound, for better or for worse. While various individual tracks are achievements for the band, this is by no mean their best LP. There is a certain formula to many of the songs, several of which tend to drag, especially in the middle four or five tracks. Also, a casual listener may occasionally find themselves wondering just how hard front man Matt Collyer was trying when he wrote a record full of those three line choruses, most notably the entertaining but semi annoying “Raise Your Glass” mentioned earlier in this review. Regardless, these minor offenses should not deter listeners. True, Unstoppable is not a perfect album, but it is a good one—another good album from a consistently good band.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums