The first new music from the Boston punks Already Dead in almost a year, the band’s 2025 EP ‘I Think It’s Time To Leave…’ is in danger of being over as soon as it’s begun. Packing five high octane numbers into a little over ten minutes, the release barely gives the listener time to catch their breath, let alone provide an ideal opportunity to take stock of what they’re hearing. In terms of blending the classic Ramonescore sound with some old school, sometimes very British sounding punky thrills, the material really hits the mark, though, regardless of the release’s obvious brevity.

Clocking in at a little over a minute, the lead track ‘I’ll Go Mine’ finds the band attacking at speed, valuing a sharp-ended riff above everything else. Not even allowing the listener the grace of an intro, the number kicks in with a speed driven guitar and shouty vocal salvo, and the general assault sounds like a Rancid deep cut with better vocals colliding with something from the early Pennywise catalogue. It’s short, but there’s still time for a rousing hook; in some ways, there’s precious little time for much else since, at the point where the listener starts to feel acquainted with the raucous arrangement, the end of the track flows straight into ‘Time’ without a pause. Musically, everything remains incredibly tight, with the band taking a riff that takes a pinch of Ramonescore and a huge swathe of trad punk energy and applying a much tougher style, sometimes sounding like a cross between The Drowns and early Face To Face. In some ways, this is more melodic, at least from a musical perspective, than ‘I’ll Go Mine’, but not as melodic as some of the band’s earlier works, since it’s dominated by a really shouty vocal that might split opinion. Despite being somewhat rough and ready, the music proves strong enough to hold everything together. It never sounds like the ideal track to be issued as a pre-release single, but in terms of capturing Almost Dead’s raw edge, these two minutes are pleasingly direct.

Even more raucous, ‘Gettin’ By’ pushes the bass to the fore, and the pounding bottom end drives a pogo-worthy riff that combines a Rancid-esque tune with the kind of gang vocals that fill albums by street punk acts like Lower Class Brats. Somewhere around the end of the second chorus, the rowdy, very old school approach starts to wear a little thin, but seemingly aware of this, the band introduces a very melodic instrumental break where a clean toned lead guitar drops in a great solo, and a taut rhythm section revisits a sound much closer to classic Face To Face. Opting for speed once more, the EP highlight ‘Sick Talk’ works a thrashy punk guitar against a rattling bass, and Almost Dead adopt a sound that owes more to Screeching Weasel circa ‘Television City Dream’ than any of the classic, legacy acts. The thunderous approach really suits them, and in a little over a minute and a half, they attack with some rocket-fuelled Ramonescore that makes a great feature of a superb bass sound and relentlessly aggressive vocal. Fans of the style will have certainly heard this kind of thing from at least three dozen bands in the 90s, but this kind of energised, sweary punk works really effectively in Almost Dead’s more than capable hands.

More of that would have been preferable to the slower ‘Nothing Wrong’ where the band choose to stretch out over three minutes whilst delivering a poor Transplants impersonation. Attacking with a dual vocal over a spiky, old school riff, there are no great melodies here – or at least it seems that way at first. A closer ear will uncover some superb descending basslines, and a couple of the main riffs have their own charm if you’re a fan of that point where punk and punk ‘n’ roll meet, but it’s all a little tiring. Especially so, without a classic sounding hook.

This EP ends on a rather unfortunate note. ‘Nothing Wrong’ feels relatively faceless, but up to that point, Almost Dead use their amassed influences to share some really fun, energised punk sounds. Lovers of US punk will certainly find the small cost of a download to be money well spent for ‘Sick Talk’ and ‘Time’. Although most punk fans will own dozens of similar sounding releases, this short blast of anger – at its best – proves that well played punk never gets old.

September 2025