MxPx: The Ever Passing Moment : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

MxPx love the well-produced new-school punk rock that Green Day cleaned up so smartly in the Nineties. The aggressively positive Bremerton, Washington, trio applies even more sensitive-guy toothpaste to punk's dirty fangs. "Let yourself say, 'I was wrong,'" lead singer Mike Herrera counsels in "Buildings Tumble," before advising, "Let your heart move on." The band's bright music succeeds best when the harmonies are rich and the lyrics sharp: "Without You," a fast love song that MxPx call "kind of sappy," stands out not only because of its sharp, rhythmic momentum but also because the slightly hoarse Herrera vows, "You're my every dream/You're the threadwork to my seams." And while The Ever Passing Moment isn't all perfect punk pop, the shadowy chords beneath "It's Undeniable" are exactly that. (RS 846)

JAMES HUNTER