Peace And Light is the debut full length album from North Carolina’s Muscle and Bone. If you’re a fan of Bracket, Appleseed Cast or Weezer, then I can recommend this. Muscle and Bone have moved on from basically being an American Football cover band to a very good pop punk band. There are definitely still emo elements, but they’ve really adapted and caused a bit of variation with this record.

The flow of the album is great; opening songs ‘XO’, ‘Song for The Broken Road’ and ‘Keep Sinking’ are upbeat pop punk songs, and set up a strong start to the album. The tempo begins to slow, as the influence of American Football and Rooftops takes over, and by the time you get to ‘Peace & Light’ and ‘Meaningful Things’ you’re suddenly in an emo album. You never really realise the change, and that’s to Muscle and Bone’s credit, as they’ve clearly thought about their running order.

Towards the end of the album, the tempo picks up again, and final songs ‘Neither The Vine, Nor The Branch’ and ‘Wash Over Me’ are reminiscent of Crash of Rhinos – albeit the less heavy Crash of Rhinos songs.

– Alex Ryan