Get onboard for Real Talk

By completely embracing their "defend pop-punk" mantra, and then stepping it up some, Man Overboard has made one of the best pop-punk records in recent memory.

Real Talk has few flaws, innovative and engaging songwriting and some of the best musical hooks to come out of New Jersey since Midtown broke up.

This album sees Man Overboard embrace its influences and wear the members' musical upbringing on their sleeves.

The duel vocals on "Parting Gift" are reminiscent of Living Well Is The Best Revenge-era Midtown. "Darkness, Everybody" has a strong early Saves The Day vibe, while the soft closer "Sidekick" seems to take a cue from The Starting Line's later work. 

This is how a modern pop-punk record should sound. Gone are the days of straight Blink-182 and New Found Glory rip-offs. Instead, these are four dudes who were weaned on the faster, more aggressive sounds of early 2000s East Coast pop-punk.

And the genius on this record is how Man Overboard blends the aforementioned influences into one 33-minute blisteringly fast and amazingly catchy record all the band's own.

The standout track here is "Fantasy Girl," which, if the band had released through important pop-punk record label Fueled By Ramen, would be the song to propel them to headliner — and perhaps mainstream — status. It's a truly perfect pop song that grabs the listener from the very first guitar riff.

A buildup follows, with a semi soft-spoken verse and a breakdown filling in for a pre-chorus, followed by one of the biggest hooks this genre has heard in years. It's the most polished song on the record and is far from the fastest or most technically impressive but it's a complete package nonetheless.

The great part about Real Talk is that it's impossible to dwell on just one song as each subsequent track is a gem of its own.

"Al Sharpton" is probably the fastest song on the record, with a great guitar part for the open. The song is the strongest reminder of the "punk" part of pop-punk on the album, and it will surely be a great song to hear live.

Another element that makes the album great is the variety of vocal deliveries found throughout the record. While "Al Sharpton" is a straight-ahead punkish song, "Montrose" showcases an almost whisper of a verse, gang vocals as transitions and louder, heartfelt singing for the chorus, which serves as an all-encompassing look into the rest of the record.

Duel vocalists Zac Eisenstein and Nik Bruzzese are both graced with terrific voices and many times during Real Talk we are blessed by their seamless sharing of vocal duties on some tracks and terrific harmonizing on others. The whole record completely utilizes their strengths and every song is a good example of that.

Another great idea the band had in the recording of the album was to use as many instruments as possible to spice things up. It's the little things that set Real Talk apart from other recently released records. On top of the usual suspects, there are acoustic guitars, xylophones, pianos and even programmed drums sprinkled about, all of which make for terrific listening.

Real Talk deserves to be Man Overboard's breakout album. This is the kind of record that gives hope to listeners of a genre that was, as recently as around 2007, at its absolute darkest and least creative point.

It's the kind of record that will make it easier to forget the dying fad that had all the new bands in the genre wearing neon and screaming. Hell, it's the kind of record that makes you want to defend pop-punk.

RATING: 4.5 stars out of 5

klucas@umdbk.com