Review

Attention local shopping mall guests: Tsunami Bomb is tired of your shit.

They're also here to rock out on their follow up to 2002's The Ultimate Escape.

On Tsunami Bomb's latest album, The Definitive Act, you'll find what you've come to expect on such albums: a hand-to-help-you mentality, lots of energy, and plenty of hollers and "whoa-ohs" to get a crowd shouting along.

Agent M's voice isn't soaring, isn't big, and sure doesn't impress much, but it gets the hard work done for a below-the-radar pop-punk band like Tsunami Bomb. She's got the trademark whiny voice, and enough melody and range to make songs like "I Bought You" and "A Lonely Chord" come off with appropriate suburbian passion.

M's hokey lyrics don't stop Tsunami Bomb from rocking out on "Four Robots and an Evil Scientist" - the band pounds along furiously against the backdrop of becoming puppets to a mad promoter. Former guitarist Mike Griffin is admirably inventive enough, while bassist Matt McKenzie and drummer Gabe Lindeman keep things moving along steadily. On "Jigsaw," the grooving opening drum and bass lines offer some welcome diversity to Tsunami Bomb's sound. The bad part is you have to wait until the end of the disc to hear it.

"Negative One to Ten" shares M's passion for the music that "saves you from yourself, your thoughts, your life, your world," a quaint reflection on the power of a favorite song that "shapes you when you're young / but gives you freedom at the same time." And even though the major chords in the minor song "Dawn on a Funeral Day" seem a bit out of place, especially on a tune that rails against sell-outs who've been "steamrolled by gold records," the song has the potential to be a dark, A.F.I.-like anthem, and is a great kick-off to a album that has a hint of doom-and-gloom.

Admire Tsunami Bomb for their spirit, and for their fight to keep that spirit up. While part of their underdog attitude rings a bit hollow on The Definitive Act, they're earning the musical and spiritual chops that make for constant improvement. If nothing else, their energetic live show hints at the potential the quartet possess.

Review by Dave Lawrence

3 out of 5