Reminiscent of the early days of “emo” and pop punk, many musicians strive with influence from bands like Taking Back Sunday and Thursday.

In the South Jersey music scene, one band has taken this genre and run with it: Parkwood. Their debut release “Letting Go…” was put out in July, 2013, just earlier this year. I’ve listened over it a few times with a critical ear.

Parkwood, a four piece punk band, hails from Hammonton/Atco. Jorge Estrada and Nick Gelone, Class of 2013 graduates of Hammonton High School, formed the band in late 2012, and picked up Mario DiPaolo, a Class of 2011 graduate, along with Brandon Crowther in 2013. Jorge, Mario and Nick had already been friends for many years before starting this band.

The album starts out with a melancholy introduction to Parkwood’s sad, punk sound. Buried is an excellent choice for the first track because it eases the listener into what they’re going to hear for the next two tracks, before gently ending with the killer acoustic track “Clocked Out.”

“Train Sounds” hits hard right off the bat with straight time drumming, a nice lead from the guitar, and vocals by lead vocalist/guitarist Jorge Estrada taking the melody in traditional 4/4 time. This song along, with “Deja Vu”, are the more upbeat tracks off of the album, nonetheless, still with emotional lyrics.

The album ends with “Clocked Out,” a slow acoustic song written and sang by lead guitarist Brandon Crowther. An emotional song with an anthem-like chorus and a catchy melody.

Estrada reflected on the album’s release and its effect on the band.

“We’ll never be satisfied which is cool with me cause we’re just gonna keep pushing to be something bigger,” he said. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say we’re all actually happy with the response of ‘Letting Go.'”

Gelone and DiPaolo agreed with this.

“The response we got from the people who listened to it exceeded my expectations by far,” Gelone added.

This album is strong in vocals and lead guitar. The drums are lacking just a bit, but according to Dipaulo is confident that will change.

“I’ve never seen Nick get into playing drums on our songs till we started really practicing these new songs,” he said.

The quality of the recording was very well done considering the low budget. This “punk/alternative” band (in Estrada’s words), has done a fine job in their debut in my opinion.

“Letting Go…” by Parkwood earns 7 out 10 Devils.

The link for the album is http://parkwood.bandcamp.com