A gentle orchestral score is what sweeps you into the intro track of Bars of Gold’s LP, which is quite bravely named Of Gold. Ambitiously titled? You could say that, but once a charming melody of electronic keys begin exploding like Pop Rocks over the grand instrumental, you can’t help but feel a little warmer about their pre-perceived assertiveness. The aforementioned opening track is called “Boss Level,” and at first listen it sounded a little goofy, but I think that’s what gives it such a great character.

“Heaven Has a Heater” follows, which is an altogether more vibrant and energetic track. It employs a whole world of bashing, breaking and guitar-shredding, but doesn’t really deviate from the standards you’d expect to hear on a punk album such as this. As far as tracks go, it pales in comparison to the track that succeeds it.

“Birds” is such a track, which begins with oddball acoustic that’s got a really visceral, folky, elemental feel to it that I adored. Something you would expect to be at odds with the tense twanging of Bars of Gold’s harder sound moulds in harmoniously and produces just the right witches’ brew you would want from a band like this. Of all, it’s the clear standout track on the album as it creates a real physical excitement as the tempo slowly gathers momentum in the depths of your eardrums.

I find that the weaker tracks lay among those that are slower paced, as instead of smouldering in a complimentary fashion to their more upbeat counterparts, they wane. They sound misplaced and seem to drag on for far too long, like an unwanted interval in a glorious rock riot. In terms of hit and miss, they unfortunately miss.

The sheer strength of Of Gold is found most obviously in “Birds,” “Up Up Up” and “Doctors & Lawyers”. The latter has the most amazing Rapture-esque feel to it that shoves you right down into a dirty, sweaty, overcrowded club in someplace like deep dark Detroit, leaving you thrashing in the energized ecstacy the song brings you from the opening chords to the concluding ones. It’s interspersed with calmer moments, moments for catching your breath in the mosh pit, making it a perfect dance track.

Wrapping it up, Of Gold is an awesome effort. Sheer, pure, raw to the very best of it’s ability but it’s got a couple of blind spots in the slower tracks which is only natural for a band of this nature. They’re best in high octane mode, right off the cannon and ready to explode. I would love to see how Bars of Gold handle some slower-burning tracks with a little bit of read and review. What would be the best thing they could do there is keep it as short and to the point as possible, since they’re such an on-the-button band the majority of the time. Keeping it snarling and snappy is key, and they’ve proved they are more than capable. On to platinum futures!