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Catchy melodies.  Fun up-beat tempos.  Pulse-pounding rock 'N roll.  Guitar ballads that make you want to daydream about girlfriends old and new.  What do these four things have in common?  Besides the random urge to ride a skateboard which arises from the first three combined, those four combined elements form a musical compound by the name of "Pop-punk."  A fixture on the "Periodic Table of Pop-Culture" ever since teenagers began to favor Blink 182 over Britney Spears; this genre has become the latest "Teen Craze."

And amongst the slew of bands and their albums which somehow fit in the genre are John Warne, (Guitarist, lead vocals and songwriting,) Joe Krube, (bass and vocals,) Toby David, (Guitarist,) and Josh Abbot; (Drums,) A.K.A. Ace Troubleshooter.  Their third album-entitled _It's Never Enough_-brings strong musicianship and unique vocals to the table.

Similar in style to numerous bands on the scene, (The likes of MxPx, Blink 182, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, Brand New, Simple Plan, and Relient K all come to mind,) this foursome adds their own flavor to an already well established style of music.  Tight musicianship added to passion are what makes this kind of rock music so enjoyable to so many, and Ace Troubleshooter possess both.

That said, all twelve tracks have almost no lyrical variation between them.  From the first note to the last, the entire album deals with nothing but the topic of girls and relationships.  The music itself is the only thing that comes as any surprise from song to song.  Granted, such songwriting is easy to relate to; (everyone experiences heartbreak in life,) but one does get bored with a steady diet of the same old thing.  Almost any band will deal with those issues to some degree, but few if any can manage to devote an entire album to it.  The only downside to this disc is that Ace Troubleshooter has managed to pull that off.

Ryan Little  4/18/2004