H2O have always been one of the more interesting bands to emerge from the mid-90’s NYHC scene. Too heavy for the punks and too melodic for the tough guys, they always had a hard time finding their audience. Usually they’d be stuck opening for some mid-level touring band like Mest or The Starting Line, with nobody really caring about them in general. However they managed to accrue a solid fanbase over the years through a relentless touring schedule and some pretty fucking sweet albums. Most people only remember them for the stuff they did in the late-90’s, but my favourite album of theirs would easily have to be Nothing To Prove released in 2008, well after most people stopped giving a shit about them.

Nothing To Prove was sort of a comeback for them in a critical sense, following the rather muted reception to 2001’s Go. After the dissolution of singer Toby Morse’s sideproject Hazen Street, him and the rest of H2O assembled a relative dream team of Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory handled production duties, while the album featured guest appearances from such guys as Freddy Madball, Roger Miret, Danny Diablo and Kevin Seconds. To top it all off. For anyone majorly into 90’s NYHC, this album was basically a dream come true.

The fact that this video features subtitles in Spanish really gives an insight into the demographic of people who actually gave a shit about H2O in 2008

The title track is classic H2O. Clocking in at little under 90 seconds and featuring the melodic riffing the band are known for and a two-step riff at the same time. It’s one of the best tracks of their entire career and should get you moshing within seconds If you thought the slick pop punk of Go was a let down, “Nothing To Prove” is basically the band’s way of saying “Yeah all that mallpunk shit we put out was just a midlife crisis, we’re all better now, here’s Roger Miret to back us up!”

Chad Gilbert’s production work is nothing short of stellar here. The guitars sound crisp and clear, and everything just sounds perfect. Unlike Go, which arguably suffered from being a bit too clean and calculated, Nothing To Prove has the right amount of grit and hardcore edge to compliment the upbeat music. Toby Morse’s lyrics are the usual braindead shit you get from H2O, but when the band behind him is this good who’s gonna complain? Nobody, that’s who.

The thing I’ve always loved about H2O was how they managed to walk the line between straight up punk rock and NYHC like seasoned professionals, without ever sounding generic or contrived. “Fairweather Friend” exemplifies this fairly well with the kind of chugging riff backed with d-beats that you can two-step too easily, but then it immediately segues into this uplifting singalong chorus. And just to top if all off Lou Koller from Sick Of It All pops in for 10 seconds just to get everyone hyped as fuck again. In a world full of Madball clones and endless forgettable tough-guy bands, it’s this kind of perfect formula which allowed H2O to stand out from the crowd in both their heyday and even nowadays.

The one clunker on the album would have to be album closer “What Happened?”, in which Toby Morse spends a full 3 minutes sounding like a grumpy old man, while failing to understand how the music industry works. It almost makes you think this should’ve been the track Kevin Seconds sang on, the two would’ve made quite a pair. Alkaline Trio singer Matt Skiba’s guest vocals do an earnest job of trying to salvage the situation, but everything ultimately falls flat in the end. It’s the one dud on an otherwise stellar and pretty sweet album. Despite this, Nothing To Prove is still a quality album that I believe is well worth your time.

What do you think? Does anyone in THE CURRENT YEAR still give a shit about H2O or are they just old and irrelevant? Does Toby Morse actually know how the music industry works? Does the lack of breakdowns and synth leads on this album trigger irrational hatred within your brain? Let us know in the comments below.