With their spiky hair, electric guitars, and dewy, lip-ringed smiles, Australia's
5 Seconds of Summer are often dubbed the
One Direction of punk-pop. It's an admittedly facile if apt comparison reinforced by the fact that
5SOS (
Five Sauce, as their fans call them) toured with
One Direction in 2013. However, even if
5SOS are a punk boy band, then it's a minor distinction, and one that's arguably been around since
Green Day first incepted it with 1994's
Dookie. It's also a brilliant marketing tool brought to apotheosis at the dawn of the millennium by
blink-182's multi-platinum album
Enema of the State. Sixteen years after
blink-182's breakthrough,
5SOS have taken stock of all the small things with their sophomore album, 2015's
Sounds Good Feels Good, a slick, professional production that finds them embracing their punky boy band image with unabashed glee. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer
John Feldmann (
the Used,
All Time Low,
Plain White T's), who previously helmed most of the group's debut album,
Sounds Good Feels Good also finds the group collaborating with a handful of like-minded if slightly older artists, including
Good Charlotte's
Benji and
Joel Madden,
All Time Low's
Alex Gaskarth, and others. Generally speaking, this big brother/little brother vibe works, and cuts like the "She's Kinda Hot" and "Permanent Vacation" are upbeat, singalong-ready anthems that bring to mind a mix of influences from
Green Day to
Sugar Ray. The rest of
Sounds Good Feels Good reveals a more earnest inclination, with
5SOS delving into some dancey,
1975-esque post-punk on "Waste the Night," going for acoustic, orchestral flourishes on the ballad "Invisible," and shading their chunky '90s
Radiohead guitars with crooning emo-angst on "Airplanes." Ultimately, for most of the group's fan base,
Sounds Good Feels Good will live up to the promise of its title. ~ Matt Collar