The Rebel Spell

It's A Beautiful Future is the latest sarcastically titled album from Vancouver, BC punks the Rebel Spell and it packs a hell of a punch. Carried by a driving rhythm section, It's A Beautiful Future is nearly unmatched in its enthusiasm and execution. The lyrics are passionately political, but never preachy or pretentious, but if you're a "the medium is the message" listener, the songwriting is outstanding, making it easy to put the politics in the backseat. It's A Beautiful Future never stagnates and that's partly because songs like "Uncontrollable" and "It Can't Just Be Me," which feature violin and piano, respectively, work to keep things different and interesting. It's A Beautiful Future is punk at its most coherent. Whether you're protesting or skateboarding, or skateboarding to protest, the album is uncompromising and the strongest Canadian punk album since Supporting Caste, which is no small feat for a band that clearly wear Propagandhi's influence on their sleeves. Our political future may be bleak, but with bands like the Rebel Spell, punk rock's certainly isn't.