Fiercely ploughing their punk furrows, *Allister *release their third album on Drive Thru with Before The Blackout. In a marked progression from their last record, Last Stop Suburbia, the quartet mixes elegant pop-punk melodies in tracks like ‘Rewind’ _and _‘Waiting’ _with heavier, almost grungey tracks like the near-epic, emo affair that is _‘Blackout’. Fear not, however, as they have not forsaken their roots, including some classic punk thrashouts in the guise of ‘From The Ground Up’. There are a colossal fourteen tracks packed into this release but due to the equally massive variation, the integration of interestingly timed drumming and some unorthodox chord structures, there is little chance of getting bored. You can take it for granted that this release will please everyone that has been waiting for it but I wouldn’t hold out any hopes for newcomers to the *Allister *bandwagon.