All Time Low didn’t have the chance to play any holiday shows this year because they were finishing up Dirty Work, so instead they released a Christmas single called “Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass.” Fans should be hoping that the song is in fact no indicator of what Dirty Work will sound like because the band was writing better jams back with The Party Scene years ago.

Everyone knows All Time Low’s biggest influences are blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, but the boys couldn’t come up with a song that comes close to Hoppus, DeLonge, or Wentz’s worst holiday material. Alex Gaskarth’s vocals sound overworked, which might be a frightening foreshadow of what may happen on All Time Low’s major label debut.

Besides the vocals and the lyrics it’s a typical All Time Low song, and not a bad one, but lyrics like “So I wrote you a song // Hope that you sing along // And it goes // ‘Merry Christmas, kiss my ass” just aren’t as clever as Gaskarth probably thought they were.

**.5/*****