TEMPLETON PEK

Watching The World Come Undone

DRAKKAR Birmingham’s skate-punk enthusiasts refuse to learn new tricks

Music fans of a certain age will remember when the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games acted as a serious and prolific source of new band discoveries, and Templeton Pek would have been a shoo-in for soundtracking a six-digit-score combo in a pixellated swimming pool. Their melodic skate-punk has always felt somewhat out of time, despite their contemporary and socially conscious lyrics.

Watching The World Come Undone displays little in the way of evolution from 2015’s New Horizons, and while that album properly established Templeton Pek’s sound – perhaps making it churlish to criticise them for consistency – this fifth album suffers from an unfortunate case of background syndrome. There’s anger, there’s fire, and on tracks like Axis there’s some bona fide shredding, but as enjoyable as it is for the half hour or so that it’s on, it’s just too instantly forgettable once it’s over. FOR FANS OF: GREAT COLLAPSE, RISE AGAINST, SUM 41