Relient K Self Titled Review

Relient K "Self Titled" LP

Relient K put out their debut in 2000 and it was one of those records that I immediately gravitated towards. It was pop punk, and it had a slice of religious ideology that I had started to collect. At the time, I was going to a cult, er, I mean church that damned everyone that bought a secular record. I had a TON of them, but I wasn’t about to let anyone in on the massive collection of music that I had. The good thing about that period was that I would be exposed to a TON of great bands from the “Christian” scene. Relient K is one of the talented bands that I got stuck in my head all the time. The guys put out this incredible debut, and it still rings true today.

From the start of “Hello McFly” you get a sense of joy and fun from the band. These guys, to me, were like The Aquabats in many ways. Going through some jovial tunes, throwing down some interesting takes on being a good person, and overall, just having fun. There’s a few serious notes here and there, but the band put together a great record that was a step below Mxpx “Life in General”. While the boys in Mxpx were a bit more “punk”, these guys were like the younger brothers of Mike Herrera and the trio from Bremerton.

That being said, this record has a lot of highlights, before fizzling out towards the end. The first 8 tracks are killer, then it starts to become a bit boring, and it fizzles out at track 14. However, the strength of the first half of the record with songs like “My Girlfriend”, “Wake Up Call”, and “Staples” really does do well to get through the muddled second half. This is a record that is as good today as it was when I first heard it. I mean, what other band had the balls to say, “Marilyn Manson ate my girlfriend” in a repeating chorus? Come on, you know you like it.

Pick up Relient K’s Self Titled Debut for less than a cup of coffee here, or don’t, no one listens to me anyways.