All Dogs hail from Columbus, Ohio, a city that’s really not that exciting compared to those most young musicians inhabit. That leaves room for a vibrant music scene and a lot of semi-bored people to contribute to it. I don’t know All Dogs’ entire back story, but it surely stems from the need to fill a void with confessional and engaging pop-punk .

Since 2013, All Dogs garnered attention on the basis of 10 songs, which comprise a 7-inch single and the A-side of a split tape with Slouch, another Columbus band. Still, these initial recordings revealed All Dogs were on the vanguard of a new delicate form of pop-punk. Frontwoman Maryn Jones treads a line between GBV-esque hooks and the quick, persistent pop-punk of the kind of bands on the Epitaph label (think Joyce Manor or fellow Ohioans The Sidekicks). In less than two years’ time, All Dogs have proved they are a force with which to be reckoned.

Which brings us to Kicking Every Day (Salinas Records), the full-length with the potential to bring them into the limelight. It’s difficult to point out exactly why, but on this debut, Jones and company don’t deliver the same catharsis they did previously. This is said after considering what this album actually offers. Jones’ songwriting seems just as confessional; she has said before that she’ll sing what she can’t say to others. She spouts off absolutely devastating lines like, “I know I could’ve loved you, but you would not let me” on “Leading Me Back to You.” And there are some remnants of their grittier, barebones 2013 style showcased on “How Long” and the surefire hit “That Kind of Girl.” The major issue with this record ultimately comes down to the band being unable to sustain such piquancy over the course of a whole song. Specific moments, rather than whole tracks, stick out, like when “Skin” picks up or the closing minute or so of the aforementioned “Leading Me Back to You.” All this is to say that All Dogs are on the brink of greatness, but just aren’t quite there yet.