YEAH! Simplest review I’ve ever written. Oh, you want more? OK, HELL YEAH! The Mendozas are a trio from Toronto, Canada, formed in 2017 as a side project to play pop punk and have fun, but after the three members’ “main” bands slowly dissolved, they turned their attention full-time to The Mendozas, and we’re all the better for it. “Up And At Them” is their second full-length LP, and it’s a half hour of non-stop fun. High energy, sarcasm, pop, and pep are the orders being fulfilled here, and the band play around in a few different pop punk sub-genres. The opening track, “Sitting By These Rocks,” is driving, melodic, and has plenty of jangle, and is one of the more heartfelt songs of the LP, speaking of how nothing is permanent, likening the rocks to impermanence of relationships and everything else in life: “Sitting by these rocks / Day by day they wear away/ Until their names are long forgotten.” The jangly bridge is very pretty. “Murder” has a hard rock sound blended with the burly guitar sound of Chicago punk, while “Dapper Man” and “Not So Nice” have the poppy melody, muscular guitars, sneering vocals and sarcastic lyrics that remind me a lot of The Fur Coats, the long-standing band from Chicago ex-pat Marc Ruvolo. These are couple of my favorites. I enjoy the doo-wop punk of “Bottle Blonde,” a track that kind of reminds me of the humor and power of New York’s Alice Donut, as does “Kill Your Television,” the track that closes the LP. I love the combination of poppy punk and soaring guitars of “Idiot Club.” “Kerosene” is a harder punker track that sort of reminds me of early material from The Offspring. “Lasso of Truth” is the band’s entry into the speedy angry hardcore sweepstakes, and it’s a surefire winner. The whole album is a surefire winner. Like I said, HELL YEAH!

Check out the album here: Up And At Them | The Mendozaz (bandcamp.com)

Paul Silver