The problem is, this seems to be an album of classic underachieving. The Tossers get compared to the Dropkick Murphys, but I think it's only because they sound Irish. Punk is what this effort falls under, but I don't know that it applies fully. For comparative purposes, the Tossers are to Dropkick Murphys what the Pixies were to the Ramones. But I think that might be a disservice to the Pixies, who were excellent in their own right. But as I was saying before, the Tossers seem to be not quite up to speed in terms of instrumentation.

They have an electric violin, but not quite like Deadweight has an electric violin. They have a banjo, but not quite like Bela Fleck has a banjo (although it's unfair to compare punk to Bela, that's an apples to oranges ratio.) The Tossers have guitar and drums, but not like the Bouncing Souls have guitar and drums. You begin to get the idea. It's too light to be punk, but too heavy to be folk music.

The entire album gives off the impression that it should suddenly break out into fast punk riffs and jack-booted moshing, but it never happens. It leaves you waiting, but never offers anything when the time comes. Here's the catch. The songs are well-orchestrated, coordinated properly and well -written. They even come off sounding crisp and clear. So I can't knock the talent of the musicians, they obviously know what they're doing, but I wish the album offered something more, a little taste of what they can do but are holding back on.

If they turned up the guitar and made it the front line of their musical army, they'd have something, which I'd wager would be very good. But again, it underachieves. Before I go too far, I would like to take a second and recognize one song on this album that actually did make me listen with attention. "The Squall" is a good song, and even though it's not a different animal musically, it does have a little something extra, like the band put some extra effort into it to make it stand out. The lyrics have some quality to them as well, porting a political message somewhat hidden, somewhat obvious. But one song can't save and album of sixteen.  

I can't call this bad cause it isn't. But I can't say it's great, because it lacks in some departments. If you like heavy punk, stay away. If you're into more melodic forms of a genre that isn't usually melodious, or you need some decent music to jig to, have a listen. For the sake of fairness, I'll call it a 5, and say "rent before you buy."