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The first full-length from the San Francisco Bay Area band Set Your Goals, Mutiny! is a solid blend of pop punk hooks and hardcore riffs. They were recognized as one of the "Top 100 Bands to Look Out For In 2006" by Alternative Press, and that's probably a fair call.

Backtracking a step, the first track, "Work In Progress", left me feeling really indifferent about this album. It's generic poppy stuff, the kind that any other pop punk band that's big with the kids could be cranking out right now, and probably is.

It's too low energy, too radio friendly, and a too not punk; I think we've all heard that sound enough. Fortunately, this track is the weakest on the album, and not indicative of the rest of the album at all.

This 11-track album, which only runs about 30 minutes (always a good sign for a punk record), features some great fast hardcore songs. These range from poppier melodic punk tunes like "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "Mutiny!", to solid fast thrashing hardcore on tracks like "This Song Is Definitely NOT About A Girl" and "Don't Let This Win Over You".

Set Your Goals do a great job changing styles, blending old school pop punk with hardcore. It's a fun album to listen to, and the gang vocals mixed with catchy hooks are a sure sign that they put on a high-energy live show.

Jordan Brown and Matt Wilson do dual vocals, and they make it work without ever succumbing to the urge to scream, which wrecks too many decent hardcore songs these days. They have decent voices as far as the whole pop punk thing goes, and they use them.

The production is slick and clean, and what the band lacks in originality, they make up for with the fact that they are solid and tight. They take the music they do and they do it well, much better than the four and a half thousand other bands who are cranking out similar but weaker poppy hardcore music.

My biggest beef with this album is that, despite its title, the treasure map on the cover and packaging, the photo of the band dressed as pirates, and the songs bearing the titles of "Mutiny!" and "Dead Men Tell No Tales", the only actual reference in the music to pirates is the line "A pirate's life for me" on "Dead Men..."! That is clearly not enough, and it's blatant false advertising in my book.

But if you're not put off by that, and you're into poppy hardcore, pick up Mutiny!. It's not a groundbreaking album by any means, but as far as this style of music goes, Set Your Goals is one of the best bands out there doing it.

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