Believe it or not, those Canadians are pretty good. They’re awesome at ice hockey and have produced some of the best pro wrestlers ever. Now they’ve gone and produced one of the best pop punk albums you’ll hear all year. Whilst the likes of Neck Deep churned out stellar releases, Ontario’s Seaway may have just bettered them with ‘Colour Blind’.

It’s a record that knows its role and thrives off it. As a result you get a collection of wall-to-wall pop punk “bangers”. Straight from the top ‘Slam’, ‘Best Mistake’ and ‘Freak’ deliver three anthemic doses of pure pop punk. The latter two cuts demand to be played on repeat and helplessly sung along to like no one cares.

Unashamedly ‘Colour Blind’ plays into the “stereotypical” pop punk traits; “woah-oh’s”, gang vocals and retrospective lyrics. However, ‘Stubborn Love’ slows things down building towards Ryan Locke’s emotional release, with suitable harmonies from both guitars and complimentary drum work from Ken Taylor.

Whilst ‘Colour Blind’ isn’t the most varied of albums, it makes up for this through the sheer amount of first-rate pop punk. Throughout, vocalists Patrick Carleton and Ryan Locke play off each other fittingly. Whilst the band’s instrumentation on tracks such as ‘Airhead’ and ‘Turn Me Away’ are to a high standard with stringent guitar melodies standing out on the latter.

‘Goon’ ties the album up on a mellow, reflective note before giving way to an angst-y tone; “My girlfriend left me for some other dude. My mother is ashamed and she’s afraid that I might never move.”

Through an (almost) consistent stream of party-made pop punk with the occasional emotionally-charged moment, Seaway have offered an exciting, focused and addictive record in ‘Colour Blind’. A must for all pop punk fans, and those who dismiss the genre.

4.5/5

‘Colour Blind’ by Seaway is out now on Pure Noise Records.

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Words by Sean Reid (@SeanReid86)