Pop-Punk is a genre that seems to be getting more well known these days as there are a lot of highly successful acts in the genre, including new bands as well as ones who have been around for a lot longer. One danger I found with Pop-Punk is that some acts may stray away from the Punk sound in favor of Pop instead and create material that may not be as good as the first releases. This is a trap I have seen one band I used to like fall into as their old stuff was good but later material was a bit weak as nowadays they are more Pop then Punk but I won't say who just in case I tick off some fans of this band.

Anyway, onto todays review and the band I am reviewing is in both the Pop-Punk and Alternative Rock genres so already things are looking good and their name is COURAGE MY LOVE who this year release their debut studio album "Becoming". Formed in 2009 in Ontario in Canada, the band first came to the attention of the world in 2010 during a battle of the bands competition and were signed onto the Canadian branch of label giant Warner Music soon after.

In 2011, they released their first EP followed by a second EP a year later which contained acoustic versions of the first EP's songs. In 2013, the band released an EP called "Becoming" which this year is being re-released as a full length studio album containing 5 additional new tracks as well as the 9 from the original EP.

The album opens up with a short introduction track called "All We Are" before launching into the opening vocal track "Skin & Bone" which is from the original EP version and it's this vocal track which gives you the listener a taster of this bands Pop-Punk and Alternative Rock sound which gets this album off to a good strong start as I found myself liking it. In addition to the intro track which is new, the four new remaining recordings include "Do As You're Told", "Goodbye To Giving Up", "Kerosene" and "Breathing Room" and these songs sound pretty awesome and also quite catchy too alongside the 9 from the original including "Unfamiliar Sheets", "Lost Cause", "All I Need" and "Cold Blooded".

The songs on this album, including the old and new songs, sound very well mixed and also quite diverse in the tones used as some sound more heavier then others, some sound more poppy but they still manage to retain a heavy sound and some sound quite melodic which scores it one or two more points. Another positive trait that these tunes have is that they are quite catchy thanks to the clean energetic performance from the band and you may just find yourself spamming the replay button after the first listens as that's what I did after having a very good first impression left on me when the final song ended.

Bottom line, the album version of COURAGE MY LOVE's "Becoming" release is a very good release as it manages to maintain some of the Pop-Punk that I remember from the earlier material from a band I used to like while mixing in elements of Alternative Rock to create a sound which seems to fit them rather well and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes Pop-Punk, Alternative Rock or a mixture of both.