Starmarket is a Swedish quartet that knows its early 90’s American punk rock because Sunday’s Worst Enemy could have served as the blue print for hundreds of indie, emo, and hardcore punk bands if it had only been released back in 1996 when it was recorded. The band currently has an album out on Deep Elm here in the states, so this record merely serves as a reminder of how the band has progressed over the last three years.

Starmarket blends an aggressive pop punk style with catchy, Jawbreaker-influenced song structures and heartfelt, open lyrics. The two main vocalists both approach the songs with throaty, almost guttural tones, but their unorthodox melodic styles keep the cliches away even when the lyrics could pass for emo. It’s hard to classify this band because it covers so much ground within the punk framework. That’s probably a good thing because most bands that are so easily categorized fall victim to crazy expectations and stereotypes.

The production is incredibly tight, but the vocals are mixed entirely too loud for something that’s supposed to be rocking. Things get slightly embarrassing when the band tries to harmonize as in “Ten Seconds”, but the blistering guitars of “Your Style” make you quickly forget. Starmarket doesn’t tone down any of its catchy choruses even though that could turn off certain sections of its audience, and its energy makes even lukewarm songs sound inspired.

The band’s strength is in its arrangements which actually make sense when pieced together unlike so many bands that patch unrelated parts just to be tricky (“Repetition” and “So Sad” being prime examples of excellent song structures). If you’re into fast, driving yet sincere punk rock then you will no doubt be into Starmarket.