The Finer Things - The State Champs
The Finer Things Image
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 5 Critics What's this?

User Score
4.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 10 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Kerrang!
    Oct 30, 2013
    100
    The entire effort is catchy, feel-good and quite simply, pop-punk at its finest. [12 Oct 2013, p.52]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Rock Sound
    Oct 30, 2013
    90
    It’s not a progressive album per se, but The Finer Things is a bar-raising attempt at revolution in pop-punk.
  3. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Oct 30, 2013
    80
    True to its name, this record is one of the finest debut pop-punk records of the last five years and easily among the top tier for the genre this year.
  4. Alternative Press
    Oct 30, 2013
    80
    While The Finer Things may be fashionably late for this summer, it’ll sure as hell hold you over to the next one.
  5. Punknews.org (Staff)
    Oct 31, 2013
    60
    They had a pop-punk grit and an edgier take on their 2012 release but The Finer Things just falls short of the potential that State Champs should be exploiting by now.

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 2 out of 4
  1. 21GreenDay21
    Nov 6, 2013
    8
    An album that was certainly needed for this generation. It is a revolution in today's music and brings back some of the sounds of the early-mid 2000s. While much of what qrobur said was very accurate, I will add the fact that this album is quite pop-oriented, which means it can be enjoyed by the masses, but it has this modern "punk" feel which any Kerrang! readers or just really fans of pop-punk should definitely enjoy. All in all a great debut.… Expand
  2. qrobur
    Nov 4, 2013
    4
    I think people should be wary of the limited number of reviews for this record, especially as they originate from sources that more or less concentrate on the genre to which 'The Finer Things' belongs.

    The album is a competent exercise in the lighter side of what is called "punk" these days. That means it's well played, well sung and rather dull. It lacks imagination, inspiration and above all, passion. Any one of a hundred groups in this genre could have produced this record, so much is it an identikit release.

    All the pieces you'd expect are there; compressed riffing guitars, sprightly drumming in fairly fast rhythms, bass almost non-existent and pretty much unnecessary, obvious speed changes, somewhat whiny vocals...but nothing to engage your mind or heart. If you want to know what really good pop-punk should be, try the very old albums by the or, even better, their early singles.    … Expand
  3. JUIKER
    Nov 2, 2013
    2
    I don't understand metacritic and music critics anymore. I listened to a few minutes of this and it's horrible, horrible sounding stuff, like a revival of Simple Plan or Sum 41 or some crap like that. Ugh.… Expand
  4. soulcoma
    Jan 2, 2014
    1
    Kerrang! Ha Ha.100? Okay. Look at the reviewers (professional) for this album. The only reviewers are one's who cater to this genre and music crowd and depend on getting pre-release albums to review. Of course, they're gonna rate it higher than it should be. But this is preposterous. This album is awful. But, I could only make it through four songs, so maybe it's backloaded with gems.… Expand

Current Music Releases

Full List »
97 Lucinda Williams [Reissue] - Lucinda Williams
96 Miles at the Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 - Miles Davis
95 American Radical Patriot [Box Set] - Woody Guthrie
92 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road [40th Anniversary Edition] - Elton John
92 The Satanist - Behemoth
92 No Depression [Legacy Edition] - Uncle Tupelo
91 The Island Years [Box Set] - John Martyn
91 Places of Worship - Arve Henriksen
90 The Finer Things - The State Champs
90 Spaces - Nils Frahm
89 St. Vincent - St. Vincent
89 High Land, Hard Rain [30th Anniversary Edition] - Aztec Camera
89 Moondance [Deluxe Edition] - Van Morrison
89 Bottle Rockets/The Brooklyn Side [Reissue] - The Bottle Rockets
89 12 Stories - Brandy Clark
89 There's a Dream I've Been Saving: 1966-1971 - Lee Hazlewood
88 Memorial - Russian Circles
88 Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, 1960-1978 - Various Artists
88 Rooms of the House - La Dispute
87 The River & the Thread - Rosanne Cash
All Current Music »