Samiam
Trips
Ada Global

No list of underrated rock bands could ever be complete without an honourable mention of Samiam. Despite releasing a stream of solid records since 1990, these Californian melodic-punks have always remained under the mainstream radar – but perhaps that’s the way they like things. ‘Trips’ is the band’s first release since 2006 and it’s as enjoyable as we could have hoped, packed with the enormous melodies, sunny riffs and strong songwriting that fans have come to expect.

In a strange way, Samiam are incredibly understated, as well as underrated. Here, as always, they turn up, pump out a bunch of massive tunes, and then sod off again – it’s simple, without posturing or false histrionics. Opener ’80 West’ sets the tone nicely, bright, buoyant and with the kind of chorus that critics are contractually obliged to dub ‘life affirming’. For the most part there’s nothing here that’ll surprise long-term followers, though darker, more mid-paced songs like ‘Demon’ and ‘El Dorado’ demonstrate their ability to be all thoughtful and mature when they want to – and these anomalies are pretty good for the most part. We’d struggle to pick any particular stand-out tracks as the standard is consistently sky-high, and they don’t slip up. Sure, there’s nothing quite as massive sounding as ‘She Found You’ or ‘Full On’ from ‘You’re Freaking Me Out’(and there probably never will be), but this is a very strong effort nonetheless.

Aside from that, all there is left to say about this is that you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. If you love it there’s an awesome back-catalogue to delve into, and if not… well, you’ll at least be able to go with an informed name-drop next time your mates are talking punk history. Hopefully it’ll be the former, but as they say, there’s no accounting for taste. They’re back over here soon too. We’ll be the ones down the front, losing our shit, yeah?

Buy this album from Amazon

Review by Rob Sayce