Treat yourself to some Bombpops-style Punk

If you’re looking for a culturally relevant and self-aware Pop-Punk album, The Bombpops have you covered with their LP, “Death in Venice Beach.”

Released on March 13, 2020, this is the second album from the Southern California Punk Rock band. Formed in 2007, The Bombpops nucleus was comprised of co-front women Jen Razavi and Poli van Dam. Throughout their short existence, they’ve had many formation changes; that’s in part why it took five years to record a follow-up to their 2017 full-length debut, “Fear of Missing Out.”

Signed to Fat Wreck Chords, the current lineup consists of Jen Razavi (guitar, vocals), Josh Lewis (drums), Neil Wayne (bass) and Remmington Pascone (guitar).

As it turns out, “DIVB” is the last hurrah for the tandem guitar/vocal team of Van Dam and Razavi.

In August of 2021, Van Dam shared in an Instagram post that she would not be joining the band on their upcoming tour due to family and health issues. She was replaced on tour by the band’s guitar tech, Remmington Pascone. Then, in November 2021, she officially left.

Linking up once again with producers Chris Fogal (The Gamits) and Yotam Ben Horin (Useless ID), “DIVB” is deceptive with its soaring harmonies and tight riffs. Setting the album’s pace, “Dearly Departed” is a bouncy rocker about love. Rattling off a list of romances that were either taboo or ended in tragedy, including JFK/Marilyn Monroe and Sid Vicious/ Nancy Spungen, the song introduces a prevalent air of tragedy that persists throughout: “Unhappily ever after, I’ll hold my peace, hold my peace forever. Take me to the edge, Baptize me in sickness.”

The catch? The songs are a means of dealing with the tragedy. On a separate note, the album cover, featuring a classic vehicle at a drive-in, is taken with the opening song’s content about dead celebrities who had ties in the US and helps establish an Americana vibe early on.

“It is darker,” Van Dam noted about “DIVB” in a 2020 interview. “We’re portraying that love, but also the dark side of Los Angeles. And I was also going through a bit of a thing at the time. Looking back at all the songs, it totally makes sense. I was drinking too much and being depressed and dealing with anxiety. It’s a trip listening to that. It’s real and it definitely has this theme. You can feel this

uneasiness.”

Introduced by palm-muted, Punky riffs, the song “Double Arrows Down” — with Van Dam taking lead vocals — draws from her experience of living with Type 1 diabetes. A candid piece that also chronicles a seizure she had on tour, in the fall of 2018, this song is a sobering view of people living with chronic illness.

“Zero Remorse,” one of the best examples of the co-lead’s guitar chemistry, is a lyrical metaphor for being in love with someone when you’re terribly mismatched. Their call-and-response fretwork juxtaposed with Lewis’s drums, builds a simmering energy that also persists throughout the album.

Written when news of the April 15, 2019, fire of France’s Notre-Dame Cathedral broke, “Notre Dame’s” imagery uses the church’s burning embers to convey a theme about exploring someone (perhaps from a past life) and knowing them on such a personal level before ever meeting them. Buoyed by strong production and those same reliable harmonies, “Notre Dame” is the type of strong single that can sit in your playlists for an infinite amount of time without listening to the album. Then one day, you find yourself hooked on the melody, delving further into the greater album, as a whole. For a taste of empowerment in the face of a failed relationship, check out the pep of “Sad to Me.”

Going down like a party pill, the back half of “DIVB” is easily digestible and doesn’t relent. “Blood Pact” is another attitude-laden, rebellious jam.

Dealing with feelings of a constrictive helplessness, “In the Doghouse” primes the way for “13 Stories Down,” a first-hand account of traveling the downward spiral that fame and excess can lead to. Finally, “House on Fire” and “Southbound Stranger” are a vulnerable, self-aware wrap-up for The Bombpops’ Van Dam era.