The Briggs: Back to Higher Ground

The Briggs’ latest album has more of the punchy, surefire power pop/punk rock that has “instant sing-along” written all over most of the tracks. Whether it’s the catchy title track or the extremely tight “Let Them Know”, which has the band sounding like it’s a well-oiled machine, the Briggs has brought the goods on this album. Falling somewhere between the Dropkick Murphys and Social Distortion, the Briggs shine on “Song of Babylon”, but the quality drops for the mid-tempo “Common and Unknown”, which has more in common with John Mellencamp than anyone in punk circles. Yet they manage to make the most of a rather mediocre tune, but they do hit a wall with the sloppy, tired and stale “Everyone’s an Actor”, which never finds anything worthwhile to cling to. And it’s utterly worthless compared to the fun, bubbly fist-pumper “Wasting Time”, which brings to mind Green Day’s “The Grouch”. Meanwhile, “Insane” is a slightly tamer Rancid-ish effort, but “Blacklist” is another catchy punk ditty.