Handguns - Angst
Handguns are another band from the States producing angsty songs (funnily enough, the album is called Angst) about growing up and having to deal with that weird thing adults always talk about...the "Real World", I think it's called. Angst is largely reminiscent of other pop-punk albums, but none-the-less, it's absolutely cracking. And I'm sure you won't have to be thirteen years old to enjoy it, either.
Porch Light is a typical pop-punk affair: whiny, moany lyrics about not fitting in ("What's it like to know where you belong?"), angry riffs, and a hooking chorus, but it's strangely likeable. Drag You Out and Stay With Me are more examples of pop-punk anthems that have to be listened to on full volume. The songs are light-heartedly fun and infectious, and the band aren't trying too hard to be something like so many pop-punk bands are these days. They are clearly making music for the sheer hell of it.
Tracks like Long October are great if you're in a particularly surly mood. The furious riffs and powerful vocals articulate brooding teenage moods more efficiently than the lyrics do ("My mind is gone, and so am I / Now I see the world through different eyes / Everything around me is starting to weigh me down"). Early Retirement carries on this theme, voicing everything we think about getting out of bed in the morning ("I'm sick of feeling like this / Every single morning / Five more minutes in bed with the covers over my head"). A lot of the lyrics are very infantile, but they somehow manage to pull it off.
Angst features tales about romance, brooding, sulking, hating everything, and just not giving a crap, which is what makes it such a great pop-punk album. Each song is ridiculously infectious, kind of like a nice STD.