“WE REALLY GOTTA GET MORE CHAIRS FOR THE REHEARSAL SPACE.” Rob Hanson and Brett Dahlberg recently joined forces with Pat Olson and Brian Hawn to achieve Fall for Glory glory.

My first impression, after checking to make sure nothing was broken upon being blindsided, was can this really be the same band who gave us 2009s, occasionally brilliant but more often tepid, Pressin’ On EP? Founding member Pat Olson (guitar/vocals) and bassist Brian Hawn are still intact, but Rob Hanson and Brett Dahlberg have joined the fold on guitar and drums respectively. This lineup shuffle, coupled with time well spent on the road, has given Fall for Glory a new self-confidence exuberantly etched into every second of this release. 

Fall for Glory’s new EP, Front and Center, is the sound of the heart dissolved in a Molotov cocktail, hurled at the wall of complacency, and reconfigured in the searing shards. Urgent riffs are overlaid with those distinctly Midwest melody lines which made bands like Screeching Weasel, The Vindictives, and (most relevantly for FFG) Sludgeworth so damn addicting. 

D-beats give way to dexterous rack and floor tom foolery. Rousing antiphonal choruses crackle throughout each track. Lyrically sober (“But I can’t tell you we’ll be alright” from Be Alright) and uplifting (“We have each other and a dream that won’t die” from Dream Tonight), these are anthems for a new today. 

Aside from a needless “intro” four songs in, the only real complaint is that Front and Center is over far too quickly. However, as far as replay value goes, there is an almost prognostic-like wink to the lyrics concluding the song Home: “No matter how far I go I’ll come back to you.”