{"id":5459,"date":"2016-05-23T11:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-pup-the-dream-is-over\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T22:16:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T22:16:04","slug":"album-review-pup-the-dream-is-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-pup-the-dream-is-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: PUP &#8211; The Dream Is Over"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/59526bc863cc3685d12f133fb6ad5659\/tumblr_o7l12ci0Fx1r8no6so1_540.jpg\" width=\"250em\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/post\/144194597632\/interview-pup\">When I interviewed <b>PUP<\/b>\u2019s Stefan Babcock earlier this year<\/a>, he described the band as <i>\u201cmotivated individuals\u201d<\/i> and said they\u2019re not ones to <i>\u201cback down\u201d<\/i> from a challenge. True to his word, it\u2019s this fighting spirit that shines throughout the group\u2019s second effort, <i>\u2018The Dream Is Over\u2019<\/i>. <\/p>\n<p><b>PUP<\/b> have had to contend with a lot since the release \u2013 and subsequent critical acclaim \u2013 of their self-titled debut, not least of all vocalist Babcock\u2019s health issues, and these concerns colour <i>\u2018The Dream Is Over\u2019<\/i>. The danger was <b>PUP<\/b> could overthink things; chase more plaudits and move away from their frenzied sound, or return with a half-baked follow-up that lacked the punch of their debut. <i>\u2018The Dream Is Over\u2019<\/i> avoids both of these pitfalls; it\u2019s a ferocious return that builds on their early success.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018The Dream Is Over\u2019<\/i> feels instantly familiar, relying on the same formula as its excellent predecessor. Babcock rants and raves, spitting bile at every turn, yet the wry, observational and gallows humour still stands. Cuts like <i>\u2018My Life Is Over And I Couldn\u2019t Be Happier\u2019<\/i> and opener <i>\u2018If This Tour Doesn\u2019t Kill You, I Will\u2019<\/i> possess the same geeky pop-punk soul as <i> \u2018Never Try\u2019<\/i> or <i> \u2018Dark Days\u2019<\/i>, while the broodingly epic <i>\u2018The Coast\u2019<\/i> repeats the trick of <i>\u2018Yukon\u2019<\/i> as a strong centrepiece to the album.<!-- more --> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, there\u2019s the choruses. Few bands are as fun to sing along to as <b>PUP<\/b> and <i>\u2018The Dream Is Over\u2019<\/i> is filled with so many glorious gang vocal moments it just wants to pull you into a mosh pit and make you throw your fists in the air. <i>\u2018Familiar Patterns\u2019<\/i> in particular is phenomenal and is sure to bring a broad smile to the faces of everyone who listens to it. Perversely, for a song that deals with disillusionment \u2013 a theme that runs throughout the album \u2013 it\u2019s a lyrical and stylistic triumph. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not quite a re-tread of old ground though. <i>\u2018Pine Point\u2019<\/i> is a belting mid-paced torch song, for example, while the blistering <i>\u2018Old Wounds\u2019<\/i> is probably the fastest, most brutal song they\u2019ve written, straying into Bronx-style garage-punk\/hardcore. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m always reluctant to reference anything to do with a \u2018sophomore slump\u2019 when it comes to the clich\u00e9d \u2018challenging second album,\u2019 but it\u2019s an issue that <b>PUP<\/b> have neatly avoided by sticking to what made their debut so great and making incremental improvements. And, when you\u2019re debut was near perfect, that\u2019s the most you can ask for. <\/p>\n<p>5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2019The Dream Is Over\u2019<\/em> by <strong>PUP<\/strong> is released on May 27th on <strong>SideOneDummy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PUP<\/strong> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/puptheband\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/puptheband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/puptheband.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>Words by Rob Mair (<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/BobNightMair\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@BobNightMair<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I interviewed PUP\u2019s Stefan Babcock earlier this year, he described the band as \u201cmotivated individuals\u201d and said they\u2019re not ones to \u201cback down\u201d from a challenge. True to his word, it\u2019s this fighting spirit that shines throughout the group\u2019s second effort, \u2018The Dream Is Over\u2019. PUP have had to contend with a lot since [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[184,15022,2843,3506],"class_list":["post-5459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-pup","tag-rob-mair","tag-sideonedummy","tag-the-dream-is-over"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: PUP - The Dream Is Over - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I interviewed PUP\u2019s Stefan Babcock earlier this year, he described the band as \u201cmotivated individuals\u201d and said they\u2019re not ones to \u201cback down\u201d from\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: PUP - 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