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Agent 51 Are Back to Abduct You with New Album Age of Validation

Were they galivanting the galaxy as alien abductees? Were they secretly saving the world with their superpowers? Were they deep undercover? No one is really sure. One thing that is for sure though is that Agent 51 is back and they are here to rock. 

Hailing from the same era and stomping grounds of Blink-182 and Unwritten Law,and one time apple of the eye of Billie Joe Armstrong, punk/pop/rock crossover heroes, and possible saviors of the galaxy, Agent 51 are back, seemingly from out of nowhere, with some brand new suits, a gaggle of new tunes, and a full on, good ole’ rock n’ roll album. 

22 years since the release of their last album, 2003’s The Red & The Black, Agent 51, currently composed of Chris “Broken” Armes (guitar, lead vocals), Eric “Airwick/E-rock” Davis (guitar, vocals), Greg Schneider (bass, vocals), and Mike “Mikey Hell” Levinson (drums) picked up where they left off with Age of Validation. Over the course of 15 songs, the band weaves their sound through straightforward pop/punk (“Over the Target,” “Light It Up” and “We’re Going Out Tonight”), hard rock (“The Safe Choice” and “Fire on The Beach”), mainstream rock (“Nothing is on Autopilot” and “We’ve Got X-Ray Vision”), celtic-punk (“Aces and Eights” and “Guardian Angel of San Jose”), and acoustic rock ballad (“Eastern Street Kids”). 

While not quite the genre benders their alien abductee support group buddies, Blink-182 have turned out to be, Agent 51 does like to pay homage to a wide range of rock and punk sounds. This was the trend on their previous album, the aforementioned The Red & The Black, and while it isn’t a direct copying of various other artists’s music, it is definitely a very conspicuous nod to the sounds of many other bands. It’s like Agent 51 are visitors from another planet who are overjoyed to be immersing themselves in the sounds of the Planet Rock they are interloping through. 

Ever since the band’s early days, they’ve dabbled in a heavy dose of sci-fi fun with their image and their lyrics and continue that trend here. It’s not all X-Files and Chariots of The Gods though. Songs like the aforementioned “Eastern Street Kids,” indulge in life as we (every day humans) know it and cherish it. Fun excursions into alien DNA activated superpowers like “We’ve Got X-Ray Vision” keep the tone light and fun, and give Agent 51 a fun schtick to play with much like bands like Alkaline Trio play with death, gloom, and goth. 

Were they really on the other side of the galaxy for 22 years? Or were they just enjoying semi-retirement? We might never know, but it’s fun to have Agent 51 back. Hopefully we will see them out on tour in support of Age of Validation soon with some of their pals. That is if they don’t have to save the world from slime creatures from outer space…. 

Carolina's based writer/journalist Andy Frisk love music, and writing, and when he gets to intermingle the two he feels most alive. Covering concerts and albums by both local and national acts, Andy strives to make the world a better place and prove Gen X really can still save the world.

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