Review: The Static Age – Neon Nights Electric Lives

Having toured with AFI, you might expect something with a little more of a punk rock kick from The Static Age, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they’re actually closer to Catherine Wheel than Davey Havok & Co. Not that you can’t find the smallest similarities between AFI’s mixture of punk-goth in The Static Age, but you can just as easily find guitar effects that are very reminiscent of A Flock of Seagulls (and somehow they didn’t make the press sheet).Between the raspy voice, light synths, pulsing bass lines and reckless guitar, you could compare them to a The Cure/Joy Division/Psychedelic Furs/Gene Loves Jezebel cocktail. The only problem is that like much of the music that surrounded the previously mentioned bands, Neon Nights Electric Lives feels over-produced and completely without risk. I like it, but it doesn’t demand anything else of me and ultimately it won’t get anything more than that.