I was going to review this while I was in temporary exile but things got thrown off a little in the midst of that so it stayed in the backlog.  This EP finds Drive A offering a brief collection of short modern punk with a melodic twist (oversaturated guitars and semi hoarse vocals that stay melodic) combining one song from their previous album with some then unreleased songs.  Walking the line between new millennial punk and modern rock, they sing about tension and society with an emphasis on the outsider, all dealt with a fair amount of energy and power.  This EP also has a polish and sheen that further blurs the line between punk ethos and modern arena rock, seemingly aiming at the Warped Tour demographic in the process.  Yeah, it’s a bit mersh but people with those leanings may be curious about it and want to check this out for themselves.  If you’re curious about this band but unsure on whether to pick up the new album (and not just ‘cause of any possible major label connections that have since emerged) this is a decent sampler of both their old and new material.  (BOONE)
(Dead Conflict)