I have decided that a review for End of a Year's Sincerely should mimic the album's defining characteristics. So this review will be written quickly with an abundance of energy and a smattering of thought. Sincerely is an album that is so engulfed by its own influences that it almost seems like it doesn't even exist. But it does. End of a Year owe a great deal of their melodic punk-rock sound to Dag Nasty and Rites of Spring. So much so, that listening to Sincerely does little more that make me want to grab my copies of Can I Say and End on End, hold them tightly to my chest, and assure them that they can never be replaced.
Of course, any band with comparisons like these could never be completely bad. End of a Year have a certain gritty honesty that makes them somewhat likeable. They never attempt to come across as something greater or more interesting than they are. What you see is what you get, as they say, which is definitely an admirable quality. Leave the awkward experimentation and blatant over-compensation to one of those Canadian outfits. End of a Year is nothing more than a sonic tribute to the bands that they love. Unfortunately, this overt display of affection eclipses the band's identity and leaves the album to buckle under the weight of its own mediocrity. What you are left with is a collection of generic, though expertly executed, punk songs that repeatedly blend into one another for half an hour and then vanish without a trace. You may not remember the details, but you do know that it was vaguely enjoyable.
Sincerely is an ideal punk-rock album for the casual music fan. It goes down smoothly and with little or no aftertaste. But it's easy to get the impression that this was End of a Year's intention all along. It seems wrong to fault a band for successfully reaching their goals, no matter how modest.
