Tempting Heights - Tempting Heights

Tempting Heights

​Tempting Heights
self-released; 2016

​3.5 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

If you enjoy bands like Jimmy Eat World, Alkaline Trio, A Loss for Words and other like-minded pop-punk bands then you shouldn’t have any trouble enjoying the self-titled album Tempting Heights by Tempting Heights. 

I always thought this genre is especially hard to penetrate because of the criteria and tropes which every band who seems to attempt this music strictly abides by. There is nothing inherently wrong with Tempting Heights. In fact the production is stellar, I enjoyed the vocals and the band is extremely tight. That being said there isn’t much on this album that doesn’t sound like some iteration of pop-punk that has been done by a myriad of bands. The transitions are predictable but enjoyable. Tempting Heights isn’t reinventing the wheel by any stretch of the imagination but are delivering almost perfectly refined rendition of the genre that many purists can revel in. 

The EP starts with “Dream Team” and the band serves us distorted guitar, metronome-like drumming and a bass that holds down the fort. I thought the pacing of the song was spot on. The song doesn't drag and the transitions from the break down to the chorus are fluid. A very well executed song. 

Up next is “Guillotine” which is another solid effort. One guitar melodically picks at strings while the other provides waves of white noise. It's a catchy song and another testament to their innate reverence for the genre. “Director’s Cut” is a no frills straightforward rocker while “American Top 40” initially starts off, as what you think is a ballad, but mutates into an anthemic song. The band closes with “Letter” which deals with a ubiquitous topic that pop-punk tackles quite often.

For anyone familiar with the genre of music it won’t make your jaw drop although it will be a nice addition to your playlist if you dig the aforementioned bands.

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