Hello, everyone! Welcome back to my website, and today I’m reviewing the debut studio album from Snõõper, a band I hadn’t heard of until recently. A lot of the songs on this album were released previously on EPs, but this if their debut full-length album, although it’s a very short album.

This is a punk album with fourteen songs, although the album is slightly under twenty-three minutes … so, yeah, most of these songs are very short, although the closing track, “Running”, is over five minutes long.

This isn’t a super complicated album, and again, it’s very short, so it doesn’t make for a particularly difficult listen … so, why is it getting its own review? Well, one reason is because it’s excellent! But another reason is because while this album isn’t super complicated or anything, it’s still full of creativity, and I wanted to say more about it than what I could fit in a mini review.

Now, that being said, it’s not one that gives me a ton to say … I mean, there is more I could say, but I’ve got a bunch of reviews I’m working on, and I still haven’t posted my final 2022 year-end list which I wanted to have posted months ago, and also it’s not a super easy album to fully describe with words why it works so well … but yeah, I didn’t want to give this a mini review, because that would just feel rushed and I’d feel like I haven’t gone into enough detail … because, again, this is an excellent album—and while it’s not among the absolute top tier of my favourites from this year, it’s still full of creativity and is pretty much a lock for my top 50 at the end of the year!

So, first of all, on paper I’m not usually a huge fan of albums full of super short songs that are only about a minute or a little longer, but there’s so much packed into each song that they all kind of feel like full tracks, even though most of them aren’t.

The production is hard-hitting with punchy snares, and the guitars sound excellent! Blair Tramel is a fantastic vocalist, and the vocal effects fit the songs pretty much perfectly! And I love the variety of topics discussed in the lyrics of this album, too! And I can’t forget to mention the basslines!

There are definitely some lyrics here that have something to say, but as far as I can tell the main point of this album seems to just be that it’s a ton of fun—or at least that’s the main reason I love it.

The closing track “Running” that I mentioned earlier—by far the longest song here (it’s more than five minutes and twenty seconds, and the second longest is two minutes)—is a fantastic closer. I love the bassline on this one, and the chaotic sounds toward the end of the track—it’s got a great build to it, and the catchy vocal sections here sound great! But it’s not like the rest of the album before it isn’t totally worth listening to as well, because even the weaker songs here like “Music For Spies” have something to offer, with some really impressive guitar, even though this is one of the few songs in which the mixing feels messy.

I love the satirical lyrics on “Powerball” about gambling, and how some people get addicted to buying lottery tickets. And while it’s a very simple song, I think the lyrics do enough to point out some of the many problems with gambling addiction, and the song sounds fantastic, and I love the noisy section at the start of the song!

There are a few songs here that are under a minute such as the short but very hard-hitting “Bed Bugs” with lyrics which seem to literally be about not being able to stop thinking about bed bugs, although maybe there’s another meaning here, I’m not sure—either way, it’s a very hard-hitting track! 

Another song that’s under a minute is “Fruit Fly”, which features some great guitar work, and I love how the song slows down suddenly before those awesome drums pick up the pace of the song again! And immediately after that is “Inventory”, one of the most impressive songs on this album, with the incredibly chaotic guitar sections, and it’s sounds absolutely great!

“Microbe”, the second longest song here, seems to be about the pandemic and the fear of germs, and it’s another great, hard-hitting punk track, and I love the switch-up at the end with the awesome percussion!

And I haven’t even mentioned songs like the incredibly catchy “Unable”, or the awesome opener “Stretching”, or “Town Topic” which seems to be about something being misheard over the phone and then someone getting in a ton of controversy over something this person didn’t even say—I mean, it’s not the kind of topic you’d expect to hear in a song, but I really like it, especially considering that I personally have a fear of things I say being misheard or misunderstood.

Once again, I think Snõõper delivered an absolutely fantastic debut album! This is some incredible punk music that’s all packaged together on a very short album that still feels like a full album experience, and I’m super impressed by the amount of creativity all packed into a twenty-three minute album!

It’s a hard album to describe totally with words … and speaking of which, I highly recommend you hear this for yourself! Because again, I think this rules! It’s a 9/10 for me! Great album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Stretching”, “Bed Bugs”, “Pod”, “Fitness”, “Powerball”, “Fruit Fly”, “Inventory”, “Defect”, “Town Topic”, “Microbe”, “Unable”, “Running”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Music For Spies”