Parasites/Lone Wolf - Passport Split Series Vol​.​ 4

For a while now, Mom's Basement Records has been doing a series of splits featuring bands from all over the world. With Mom's Basement being one of the world's preeminent pop-punk labels, it's no surprise that previous volumes of the Passport series have featured heavyweights of the genre like The Windowsill, Neon Bone, Grim Deeds, and The Putz. Well for this fourth volume, John has really upped the ante and delivered new recordings from the legendary Parasites! Some of you oldtimers may recall that I was an obsessed Parasites fan circa the later '90s, and I would still put this band in any holy trinity of pop-punk I ever concocted. Here Parasites share space with Dutch punk rock supergroup Lone Wolf, and I must instantly declare this as the most essential installment yet in the Passport Split series!

So how do new songs from Parasites sound? Very much like old songs from Parasites! My god, "No Sleep Tonight" sounds like a missing track from Punch Lines! It's everything a pop-punk tune ought to be: full of catchy melodies, heartfelt vocals and lyrics, and guitars that pack a serious punch. Nobody writes 'em quite like Dave! "Nowhere Near Me" is faster-paced and punkier - yet still full of those vintage Dave Parasite airings of grievances that you'll surely relate to if you've ever had bitter feelings towards an ex. One thing that always drew me to Parasites was how Dave could write about completely miserable experiences yet still find twisted humor in them. Here he is still doing that in 2020. Listen to a master at work!

You'd get your money's worth on this split just from the Parasites tracks alone. But the Lone Wolf  side of this release turns out to be just as good if not better! Featuring members of The Apers, The Bat Bites, Accelerators, Giant Eagles, and The Windowsill, Lone Wolf belie their three-chord pop-punk pedigree with a sound that's a great mix of indie rock, power pop, and punk. The band just released a really great LP on Stardumb Records that I should have known about (I mean that literally - I just found the email from Stefan dated last August 13th!). Here Lone Wolf turns out two more fantastic tracks. "Meet Me In The Middle" is great upbeat pop-leaning punk with keyboards. Even though the lyrics are intensely emotional, this song possesses the kind of triumphant energy that can immediately turn your day around. And with what the world is going through now, a lot of us may need our days turned around on an hourly basis. "After Dark" is another emotion-packed number that really plays up the outstanding chemistry Merel and Ox have as co-vocalists. What a fine tandem! While still fitting perfectly within the Mom's Basement universe, Lone Wolf are a band you might dig even if you don't like pop-punk. I'm hearing traces of everything from the Marked Men to Dirt Bike Annie to melodic post-hardcore to '90s indie/alternative. 

Sometimes split records are where bands' shitty material goes to die. So I must commend John from Mom's Basement for securing top-notch tracks from two great bands. Here we've got perhaps the best Parasites songs I've heard in more than 20 years along a pair of top-tier tracks from one of the finest new punk groups out there. Of course I was pumped to hear new music from Parasites, and I was not disappointed. But I've come out of this split with a new band to love in Lone Wolf. Which band wins the split? I'll happily call it a tie!



-L.R.

https://momsbasementrecords.bandcamp.com/album/passport-split-series-vol-4-parasites-lone-wolf-split 
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https://theparasitesofficial.bandcamp.com/ 
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https://wearelonewolf.bandcamp.com/ 
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