MxPx – Secret Weapon review

MxPx – “Secret Weapon”
(Tooth & Nail)

MxPx is one of those bands that I’m pretty sure that I ought to have stopped liking around the time I turned 18. Well, at least according to popular wisdom. Evidently, it’s not cool to like pop-punk.

Hey, y’know what? I don’t care. MxPx has been repping Bremerton for the past 15 years and doing it damned well. After several albums on A&M and a cd and DVD on SideOne Dummy, they return to Tooth & Nail, the label where it all started. It seems to have invigorated the band with some fresh energy. Panic seemed a bit too apt in its title, with the band seeming to be a bit lost in their direction. Secret Weapon, however, gets back within spitting distance of “Chick Magnet” and “Punk Rawk Show.”

The title track that opens the disc is what sets the mood best. With a guitar solo from Bad Religion‘s Brian Baker, it’s the first of several guest spots that make this the best MxPx album since The Ever-Passing Moment… hell, since Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo. Secret Weapon actually has a series of secret weapons…pop-punk luminaries like Benji Madden of Good Charlotte and Tim Pagnotta of Sugarcult mixed in along with a song that has the beautiful guest vocals and piano work of Superdrag‘s John Davis.

It’s nice to see a band go back to their roots in way that doesn’t sound desperate. MxPx has taken what worked, tweaked it, refined it, and turned it into something familiarly new.

Secret Weapon