Artist: Fireworks
Album: All I Have To Offer Is My Own Confusion
Genre: Pop Punk
Label: Triple Crown

Tracks:
1. Geography, Vonnegut, and Me
2. Come Around
3. Closet Weather
4. 2923 Monroe St.
5. Holiday
6. I Support Same Sex Marriage
7. Show Me Your Vanishing One More Time
8. You’ve Lost Your Charm
9. Again and Again
10. Detroit
11.  When We Stand on Each Others We Block Out The Sun

Now, it may seem unfair for us to proclaim a bit of love for Michigan based bands, but anyone whose heard Fireworks, whether from the mitten or not, will tell you this band has something to be heard. Combining the chugging goodness of New Found Glory with the approachable pop sound of Hit The Lights, Fireworks simply brings the thunder with their long awaited full length, All I Have To Offer is My Own Confusion. This is a bitter soundtrack to a summer with friends creating memories to last a lifetime.

Kicking off with one of the best pop punk album openers that I’ve ever heard, “Geography, Vonnegut, and Me,” comes blasting through the speakers with a beat to make you move and lyrics to make you think. The lyrical bar is set high with metaphors about earthquakes and tectonic plates that are sure to be scribbled in Facebook statuses in no time whatsoever. Shortly thereafter, we are given possibly the darkest song this genre has ever offered up. “Closet Weather,” a track about disliking someone even after they’ve killed themselves will make the kids move, but it’s the lyrics that truly leave their mark. “Bad intentions don’t deserve second chances, blame the world but you kicked your own chair,” is such a dark, bleak line, but the sheer power it contains is enough to leave anyone wanting more.

As the album moves on, thebeat is always high and words stay mainly laced with anger or pain. However, it’s the combination of uptempos and downtrodden lyricism that really leaves a mark. Fireworks is giving us fluff, but trying to tell us something. Nothing shows this more clearly than the ridiculously catchy, “I Support Same Sex Marriage,” which not only fits it’s title perfectly, but goes out on a limb to take a few jabs at religion and those who choose to follow [presumably] the Christian lifestyle. Fireworks doesn’t blindly swing the mic, but takes very direct, targeted shots with their words.  “Show Me Your Vanishing Act Once More,” comes out swining at the industry and the scene. It’s a gutsy move for a band so new to the national scene, but it pays off sonically and leaves you on the floor begging for breath.

As the album comes to a close, we’re given the seemingly Wonder Years inspired closer, “When We Stand on Each Other We Block Out The Sun.” This is the key to the future of Fireworks. The qucik beats are slowed just a tidbit and the lyrics take a turn for the sunnier side of life. As the band themselves say, it’s a track about getting through this, whatever it is, that this is. It’s classic pop punk source material, but it’s just glorious.

In the end, Michigan’s Fireworks have scorched their mark into the pop punk world with their debut album, All I Have To Offer Is My Own Confusion. It’s a soundtrack to life in the midwest and a summer spent living. It’s a cocktail of everything that’s good in this genre with enough originality to give it a unique kick. Find it. Buy it. Love it.
*Written By: James Shotwell*
*Score: 8.5/10*

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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