Albums Of The Week: 25/01/19 (Puppy, Bring Me The Horizon, Judiciary, Press Club)

Puppy – The Goat

7.5/10

Best Tracks: Vengeance, Entombed, Demons

FFO: Helmet, Weezer, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard

Over the past few years, Puppy have established themselves as one of Britain’s finest young bands through a number of stellar EPs and a cracking live set. Their debut album is long-awaited, and serves as a culmination (and celebration) of all they’ve achieved in recent times, but there’s still the feeling that the band are only just getting started.

Puppy’s unique brand of riff-heavy, smooth-voiced alternative rock is the finest it’s ever been on The Goat’s first half in particular. The opening salvo of Black Hole, Vengeance, and Poor Me showcases the very best of the band’s sound; choruses that could have come from a Def Leppard or Bon Jovi "best-of" album backed up by stomping riffs which would make Tony Iommi proud. Don’t let these comparisons to bands of yesteryear put you off; the songs feel timeless, fitting into a perfect little niche of their own in the modern musical landscape. A reworked version of future classic Entombed sits in the middle of the record (already a fan favourite for those who know Puppy) like a diamond in a gold mine. This song has the dirtiest riff of all time and I will not be told any different.

The Goat isn’t without its’ fair share of filler, though, and it could easily be argued that the album leans heavily on the first half, just pulling it all back together at the end with Demons. Tracks like Bathe In Blood and Nightwalker almost slip from memory just as soon as they end, ultimately lacking the brilliant catchiness of some of their predecessors. Still, what sticks on Puppy’s debut record ends up really sticking. Some of these hooks will be buzzing around your mind for days to come, and on the whole there’s a lot more good here than forgettable. An admirable first LP from one of the country’s most exciting acts.

Bring Me The Horizon – amo

3/10

Best Tracks: nihilist blues (feat. Grimes), wonderful life (feat. Dani Filth)

FFO: Halsey, You Me At Six, The 1975

I’ll get this out the way early on – I don’t care that BMTH are a pop band now. There are loads of amazing artists out there that are making creative, wonderful pop music these days who I’m happy to rave about (Panic! At The Disco, Everything Everything, and Bad Sounds are just a few worth your time). Bear in mind, then, that I’m not quite that “kid on the ‘gram in a Black Dahlia tank”, as some of you might think.

All that being said… amo is pretty poor.

It’s an obvious natural progression from their latest effort, That’s The Spirit, in that Bring Me have almost entirely ditched the combinative style of metal, radio-friendly rock, and electronic elements which made them so good on albums like There Is A Hell… and Sempiternal. Now instead they amalgamate pop, electro, indie, and incredibly dull, bog-standard rock (in the fashion of You Me At Six or Tonight Alive). It’s clear that they’ve attempted to experiment, and they’ve spouted off about doing so enough in the press, but all it comes to is bland, middle-of-the-road songs like medicine and mother tongue. I will grant them one success in the form of nihilist blues, a moody track driven by throbbing synth and held together by a guest performance from Grimes which ends up being amo’s best song by miles - simply because it actually provides something new to latch on to.

It’s not as if there’s absolutely nothing left of the band Bring Me The Horizon used to be on this record. The down-tuned guitars on wonderful life at least provide a bit of bounce and energy (which the rest of the album lacks massively), and it ends up sounding like a discarded Don Broco B-side. They also try something similar on MANTRA, but it falls horribly flat on the chorus in particular, with Oli’s vocals coming across as nothing but overblown and straining. On the whole, too, the lyrics on amo are pretty hilarious. Whether intentional or not, the primary source of entertainment here comes from lines like “(everybody’s full of) sugar, honey, ice, and tea” and the aforementioned “Black Dahlia tank” chorus of heavy metal.

My expectations for amo were unbelievably low, and Bring Me have managed to live up to them suitably. If you’re a fan of tedious music on the whole, then I’d suggest you check it out, because this album somehow encapsulates the worst of four or five different genres. I'll still take it over That's The Spirit, though.

Judiciary – Surface Noise

7/10

Best Tracks: Temple, Pure Fury, Social Crusade

FFO: Year of the Knife, Incendiary, Knocked Loose

Sometimes you just need an album which makes you want to roundhouse kick a grizzly bear in the fucking teeth. In this regard, Judiciary have you covered.

West Texan hardcore made with a chip on its shoulder, Surface Noise is the kind of balls-to-the-wall, metal-influenced hardcore which slots perfectly into the crowd of up-and-coming bands making the genre brutal again. The riffs are made for two-stepping, spin-kicking, and foot-first stagediving, while the vocals consistently sound as if they’re being physically wrenched from the frontman’s throat. It’s not all meat-and-potatoes, though, with guitar solos springing up left and right (to varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the song) and killer guest vocals from Bryan Garris of Knocked Loose amongst other modern hardcore stalwarts.

Whilst it won’t revolutionise a genre, and some tracks stand out more than others, Judiciary’s latest effort won’t disappoint if you’re looking for some hot-blooded savagery to break your neck to.

Press Club – Late Teens 

(N.B. This album technically came out last year down under, but only got worldwide release this past Friday. I’m going by my European scrub release date.)

8.5/10

Best Tracks: Suburbia, Crash, Stay Low

FFO: PUP, The Smith Street Band, Wolf Alice

Press Club, for me, have come out of absolutely nowhere and stolen album of the week from under Puppy’s nose here. Impressively, for a band I wasn’t even aware existed until Friday, their debut LP Late Teens had me hooked from the word go and didn’t let up for one second.

The slightly distorted vocal mix might put some people off, but really it makes frontwoman Natalie Foster’s performance that little bit more powerful, cementing her steadfastly at the heart and soul of the album. It’s bitter, intensely personal, and coated in nostalgia; I’ve never so instantly (upon first listen) wanted to scream a set of lyrics back like the chorus of Suburbia. Almost every song on the record is chock-full of perfect earworms that burst at the seams with nuance and personality. Instrumentally, Press Club’s sound sits somewhere between the raw, energetic punk of a band like PUP and the indie-rock leanings of some of Wolf Alice’s punchier tracks (like Space & Time or Fluffy), and fans of both will love this record.

There’s next to nothing to complain about on Late Teens. It’s just an incredible punk-rock album with hooks for days and outstanding DIY-style production. You’ve got no excuse not to see this band when they come over to the UK in April, and Late Teens is my album of the week.

Live Review: Cancer Bats/Bleed From Within/Underside at The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

Like Mastodon, Cancer Bats are another band I’ve wanted to see for ages, but have just never managed to get round to it. The surprise release of their fantastic sixth album, The Spark That Moves, made the decision for me to see them at the start of 2019, and as we’ll get onto, I do not regret that decision in the slightest.

Underside (6/10) have travelled all the way from Nepal to support Cancer Bats on this tour, and you’ve got to admire their obvious commitment and passion for the project. They bring a fairly standard modern metalcore sound to the Wedgewood Rooms, with solid musicianship all round, but what makes this band stand out (for better or worse) is their “mascot”. I’m not too au fait on the subject of Nepalese folklore, so I can’t be specific about what it’s meant to be, but essentially they have a voodoo-shaman-esque character come out (sporting dark robes, a gas mask, and massive dreadlocks) and dance along wildly to two or three songs throughout the set. It’s… interesting. You do have to feel a little bad, though, that despite the frontman’s near constant encouragement, the band receive a fairly muted response from the Pompey crowd. Still, not a terrible way to kick off the night.

Next on are Scottish metallers Bleed From Within (7/10), whose latest album Era has been heralded as one of 2018’s most underrated releases. The amount of energy they radiate live is impressive, and I’m reminded a lot of Bury Tomorrow, both in terms of their sound and in the way they go about presenting the show. It’s mosh-call central, and the endless stream of gnarly breakdowns makes it difficult to resist getting involved in the pit down the front. Though it gets a little samey after a while (as most of this kind of music does), Bleed From Within hype the crowd up suitably enough for what’s to come.

How in the world I’ve managed to miss seeing  Cancer Bats (10/10) thus far in my life is absolutely beyond me, and now that I have seen them, I’m kicking myself about it even harder. I don’t want to be handing out 10/10s willy-nilly on this blog in my live reviews, but the show that Cancer Bats put on last Thursday was just absolutely perfect.

The band storm onstage and kick off the proceedings with Sleep This Away, Pneumonia Hawk, Old Blood, and Brightest Day, by the end of which everyone on stage and everyone down the front (including myself) is already starting to look like they’ve just stepped out the shower fully clothed. After frontman Liam Cormier takes a second to have some Coldplay-based banter with the audience, the setlist only gets better from there, and the crowd only gets rowdier in response. For me, the highlights come in the form of huge, stomping ragers like Lucifer’s Rocking Chair and Bricks & Mortar, but there are moments during fan favourites Hail Destroyer and Sabotage that encapsulate everything I love about live music. It’s absolute pandemonium intertwined with a feeling of pure mutual love between everybody in the room, as those in the pit shout every word in unison and climb over each other to get closer to the mic. For a single song to have such an effect on 500 people is a beautiful thing.

Again like Mastodon last week, each member of Cancer Bats has an equally important part to play in making this experience so fantastic; Liam’s obstreperous stage presence is so much fun to watch, and vocally he’s on top form tonight too - elevated to another level by backing from bassist Jaye Schwarzer. Oathbreaker drummer Wim Coppers is joining the band for this UK tour, and his skill is undeniable, fitting seamlessly into the controlled chaos raging onstage. Potentially the most impressive part of the Cancer Bats dynamic, though, is guitarist Scott Middleton, easily crushing each song in the set and some of the best riffs ever written. Each one hits like a freight train, and there are moments (like the breakdown halfway through Bricks & Mortar) during which it’s near-impossible to take your eyes off his guitarwork.

Cancer Bats are inarguably one of the best live bands in the world right now. If you feel like experiencing that for yourself, their remaining tour dates in the UK are as follows:

• ·         Jan 28 - Bristol - Fleece
• ·         Jan 29 - Stoke on Trent - Sugarmill
• ·         Jan 30 - Manchester - Rebellion
• ·         Jan 31 - Liverpool - Phase 1
• ·         Feb 01 - Edinburgh - In La Belle Angele
• ·         Feb 02 - Aberdeen - Lemon Tree
• ·         Feb 03 - Leeds - The Key Club
• ·         Feb 04 - Newcastle -Think Tank
• ·         Feb 05 - Nottingham - Rescue Rooms
• ·         Feb 06 - Norwich - Epic Studios
• ·         Feb 07 - Cambridge - Junction
• ·         Feb 08 - Milton Keynes - The Crauford (SOLD OUT)
• ·         Feb 09 - London - 100 Club  (SOLD OUT)

Albums of the Week: 18/01/19 (FEVER 333, Wristmeetrazor, De Staat, The Twilight Sad)

So here’s the idea; every week, in this segment, I give a short review for a few newly-released albums I’ve listened to. There’s no criteria for the genre (or quality) of the records, it’ll just be my opinions on what I’ve listened to. Place your bets now on how many weeks I'll manage to keep it up 😬

FEVER 333 – Strength In Numb333rs

6.5/10

Best Tracks: One Of Us, Burn It, Prey For Me/3

FFO: Rage Against The Machine, Linkin Park, letlive.

This debut record from Fever 333 was one I was very much looking forward to hearing, because this band feels like a movement.  After hearing their bombastic debut EP and seeing their sets at both Download and Reading last year, the idea that Fever 333 are the closest thing this generation has to a Rage Against The Machine wasn’t far from my mind (especially with their sonic similarities).

Strength In Numb333rs, in many ways, is surprising. It shows flashes of brilliance, mainly during the latter half of each track which ends with “/3” – each of these “songs inside a song” are the most aggro, exciting, and chaotic moments on the album. The rage within Jason Butler’s voice - fuelled by the political themes which arch over the entire record – is palpable and rousing, and the anarchic stylings of the /3 sections are overall the best part of the whole thing. Maybe it’s just me and my taste, but if the entire album followed the style of these parts, we could easily be looking at an 8 or a 9 here. The hip-hop elements (which also featured heavily on the EP) are well done, too.

But the album, for the most part, isn’t so wild and raw. Instead, the amount of Chester Bennington worship is unexpectedly high; the choruses of ballads Am I Here? and Inglewood wouldn’t look out of place on Minutes To Midnight (or even One More Light). A lot of the time, these near-saccharine passages begin to sound quite bland, slowing the pace and rendering the lyrical content far less involving. Producer John Feldmann – the Jamie Oliver of the sound engineering world - has firmly made his mark on parts of Strength In Numb333rs, in an obvious attempt to try and make the project as widely marketable as something like All Time Low or Blink-182. Sack him off, lads. Get Kurt Ballou in.

Occasionally, the balance between Jason’s huge choruses, his rap verses, and the band’s penchant for havoc meets a beautiful sweet spot. On tracks like One Of Us and Burn It, it all comes together fantastically. And on the whole, whilst the album has weak moments and could definitely be considered top-heavy, it’s hard not to be excited at the actual idea of Jason, Stephen, and Aric as a band. The live show will still be outstanding, it still feels like a movement, and there’s still a fever coming. It’s just got soggy pop-rock choruses sometimes.

Wristmeetrazor – Misery Never Forgets

6/10

Best Tracks: Insecurity Checkpoint, Loathsome

FFO: Pg. 99, Portrayal of Guilt, Vein

An artist I only discovered the day of this album’s release, Wristmeetrazor provide a delicious combination of metalcore (akin to Poison The Well or Converge) and classic screamo on their latest album. It’s as brutal, disgusting, and cathartic as you could want from such a project. The combination of the forlorn spoken-word and melodic passages and throat-shredding screams is, for the most part, disturbing and affecting, though sometimes lyrically falls a little flat. On Come In, The Water’s Pink especially, the whispered repetition of the spoken word in the song’s early stages comes dangerously close to self-parodic. Without a doubt, the record is at it’s best when it goes with all-out ferocity on tracks like Insecurity Checkpoint and Loathsome.

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but I’d definitely check this one out if you’re into your gnarly screamo and metalcore.

De Staat – Bubble Gum

5.5/10

Best Track: Me Time, Mona Lisa

FFO: Muse, Everything Everything, Battles

Dutch experimentalists De Staat are almost indescribable as a whole, but they’re at their very best when they write off-kilter rock bangers with weird instrumental choices. From Sweatshop to Witch Doctor to Get On Screen, their previous records have been peppered with nuggets of gold which are irresistibly danceable, but they’ve never really been a “full albums” band. With Bubble Gum, unfortunately, they can’t seem to buck the trend. Most of the tracks on this LP aren’t bad, per say, but rather just forgettable. The exceptions come in the form of Mona Lisa and Me Time – both instantaneous dance floor fillers with a slightly dangerous undertone; the result of great vocal delivery from Torre Florim, heavy electronic leanings, and punchy drums.

Though Bubble Gum subs out the indie rock influence of their previous album, O, for some 90s-style techno, the songwriting remains much the same. It leaves the band with a few more live set staples but ultimately is a little unfulfilling as a full listen.

The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All The Time

8/10

Best Track: Auge/Maschine, Shooting Dennis Hopper Shooting, [10 Good Reasons For Modern Drugs]

FFO: Frightened Rabbit, Foals, The Cure

This is the first Twilight Sad record I’ve ever listened to, so I can’t comment upon whether it’s a deviation from their previous work or not. I also won’t go on about genre here and pretend I know a lot about post-punk, shoegaze, and indie, but all that being said - this album did fascinate me, and I can appreciate the brilliance it showcases.

To me, it seems like the music here was built for late-night driving. It’s subtle and understated, but never feels boring or too far drawn out. James Graham’s vocals (the most Scottish voice in music I’ve heard since The Proclaimers) are beautifully brooding, and when it increases in intensity, comparisons could easily be made to the late, great Scott Hutchison – a good friend of the band. In fact, the blood of Frightened Rabbit runs through the veins of this album, particularly their last record, Painting of a Panic Attack, which features a similar use of percussion and synths; the two things that drive both records along. I also have to mention that I absolutely love the wailing guitar which runs almost constantly throughout Auge/Maschine, which might be my favourite song out of all the albums I’ve reviewed in this article.

Though it definitely took me a few listens, I'm now fully on board with this record (and this band in general). Whether you're a fan of indie, post-punk, or simply experimental music, I'd find it hard to believe that you won't find at least two or three tracks here that you love. It Won/t Be Like This All The Time is my album of the week.

Live Review: Mastodon/Kvelertak/Mutoid Man at the O2 Guildhall, Southampton

Photo by Jimmy Hubbard

The first show of the year is always a big one. In 2018, it was The Menzingers and PUP in Bristol, and the year before that was the last Dillinger Escape Plan show I ever saw, so I’ve had a pretty good run of year-opening gigs for the last couple at least. This year (spoiler alert) carried on that winning streak.

I’ve wanted to see Mastodon live since I was fourteen, so when I heard that they were coming to Southampton and playing a show with two more fantastic bands, it was essentially a no-brainer. 

The opening support for this tour were Mutoid Man (8/10), and honestly it’s rare to find such a perfectly booked opener. Bringing 1000BPM non-stop crossover thrash with just a dash of prog rock, Mutoid Man were all round just solidly entertaining, and certainly did their job in getting the crowd warmed up for the other two acts. Though it’s a shame that Ben Koller was forced to skip out this tour due to an injury, his replacement in the form of Chris Maggio (of Wear Your Wounds and Trap Them) filled his massive shoes pretty impressively.  

Whilst each member’s individual performances were undeniably impressive, the thing I found most enjoyable about the trio’s set was the almost Spinal-Tap-esque levels of unadulterated METAL that they brought to the table. Between flipping each other off in the middle of various songs, sending drumsticks flying with a solo, and frontman Stephen Brodsky’s banter with the audience (“This is a slow one, so grab your partner… BY THE NECK”), their set had me laughing just as much as headbanging.

Next up were Norwegian  legends Kvelertak (6.5/10), who overall I thought were pretty solid. Their brand of classic-rock influenced metal is unique, and their stage presence is undeniable even without the owl mask of years past. There were only two issues for me during their set on Thursday, and they were:

1. One of the guitar tones was like a cross between the sound of a shell being held to your ear on a beach and the sound you get when you shake an empty Pringles can. 
2. A couple of their songs managed to make five minutes feel like two hours. The outro to 1985 is just endless, endless “chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug”.

But of course, both points are pretty minor; I couldn’t even hear that particular guitar tone with my ear protection in, and the other songs in their set made up for the weaker ones. I will stand by the fact that every song ever could sound like Blodtørst and I’d be a happy man.

Finally, we’re onto the main event, and I’d like to start off by saying that opening with Iron Tusk and March of the Fire Ants should be illegal with the amount of hype it caused. Mastodon (9/10) were on absolute top form on Thursday night, so much so that I was almost glad I hadn’t seen them before - it was a perfect experience to start with. The 20-song setlist spanned every album and took deep cuts from them all (I wasn’t familiar with a good number of songs they played), a choice which served to prove that the band haven’t really ever released a bad LP. For me, the undeniable highlights were from Leviathan, and in particular I wasn’t quite ready for how much I Am Ahab was gonna blow me away. What made the songs even more powerful were the striking visuals projected onto long vertical screens behind the band, ranging throughout the show from trippy wormhole-like spirals to images of starry constellations.

Each member of Mastodon brings something different to the experience, and in their own way makes the band better as a whole, but Brann Dailor in particular was something to behold in a live environment. The band seemed to have chosen a set consisting of the most taxing songs a drummer could perform and Dailor rattled through them all like nobodies’ business, making tracks like Capillarian Crest and Ghost of Karelia (which were played back to back, by the way) look easy. Scott Kelly’s role, too, in the latter portion of the set, was an impressive performance by one of metal’s most powerful voices.

So, in conclusion, go and see Mastodon on this tour. Especially if you’re a hardcore fan, and want to see some of the songs they wouldn’t typically play – you cannot physically leave the building disappointed after a show like this.

My Most Anticipated Releases of 2019

Rock, metal, and all their subgenres are on a hell of a roll right now, with recent years being jam-packed with 8/10 and 9/10 records. I’d even argue that there have been a whole six 10/10s in the last three years alone*, so coming into 2019, it appears to have a lot to live up to.

There are albums from huge bands scheduled for release this year. From Slipknot to Tool; Bring Me The Horizon to Rammstein; this won’t be a quiet year by any stretch of the imagination. The real excitement for me, though, comes from the releases you won’t see publicised on such a mainstream level – what are Knocked Loose gonna come out with this year? Can Employed To Serve somehow beat their previous album? And (while this one isn’t “underground”) will Green Day be able to put out an album worse than Revolution Radio?  There are countless reasons to be excited for 2019; here are just four.

Baroness

In 2015, three years after the bus crash that nearly derailed their career, Baroness dropped the best metal album of the year – Purple. Though it continued down the more melodic path that previous double-album Yellow & Green had laid, and thus lacked the ferocity of their earlier work, it more than made up for it through sheer power and scope. Shock Me, Kerosene, and Chlorine & Wine each have better hooks than every single number-one-charting single in 2015 combined. Who needs Taylor Swift when you have John fucking Baizley?

So what’s next for Baroness in 2019? The band have a tour scheduled for the early part of the year across the US, co-headlining with Deafheaven and supported by Zeal & Ardor (which is bloody ridiculous, by the way), but it appears that afterwards, the release of a new album is imminent. It’ll be the band’s first project with guitarist Gina Gleason, whose backing vocals and guitar work have felt like a natural fit within the live environment for the past three years, and so it’s hard not to be excited to see what she’ll bring to studio recordings. Baizley has already stated that we should expect something different from Baroness this time around – even so far as the title (and theme) not being another colour – but I’d be willing to bet it’ll be stunning.

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

The case of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes is fascinating in 2019. Only having formed in 2015, the band are already pretty sizeable and have built themselves a unique fanbase - comprised of both fans of Frank’s previous projects (Gallows and Pure Love) and a good chunk of mainstream-level audiences (largely the witnesses – or survivors – of incredible live sets at festivals like Reading & Leeds and All Points East). This following puts them in a precarious situation in terms of their stylistic direction. Their first album, Blossom, was intense, bitter, and packed front-to-back with punk-rock ragers, whilst sophomore LP Modern Ruin opted more for radio-ready songs with huge choruses that still wouldn’t look at all out of place at Download or 2000 Trees.

Both of the Rattlesnakes’ previous efforts are fantastic, but now the question lies in which direction they’ll take their sound this year. It seems to some extent that they can’t win; go back to Blossom’s  rage-fuelled antics and risk their growing presence in the mainstream; take the festival crowd-pleasers up a (poppier) notch and risk alienating the “OG” fans. If they do neither and make another Modern Ruin, there will no doubt be complaints that the music is starting to get samey.

All this taken into account, I’ve got a funny feeling they’ll be fine. Because guess what? It doesn’t matter what songs you play when you’ve got Frank Carter performing them in a leopard print jacket whilst doing a headstand on the crowd. Guitarist Dean Richardson is an absolute riff machine, too, and so while we may not know the stylistic approach to the next Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes record, we do know it’ll be made by people apparently incapable of giving less than 200% every single time. They’ll gain some more fans on this cycle no matter what, and maybe some of the old “Orchestra of Wolves, Grey Britain, and nothing else” crowd will come round to it too. This is a band destined to be massive, and as far as I can see, the only way to go is up.

Code Orange

In the past five years, you could easily argue that no single album has made as huge an impact in our scene as Code Orange’s Forever. An album which made hardcore gatekeepers cry and traditional metalheads seethe with rage, Forever  debuted at number 4 on the US hard rock charts (alongside Metallica, Disturbed, and Avenged Sevenfold), was nominated for a Grammy, and was named Rolling Stone’s metal album of 2017. The fact that Code Orange have managed to infiltrate the mainstream metal zeitgeist by just being bastard-fucking-heavy and brain-meltingly inventive is not only impressive, but also exciting.

In 2018, Code Orange teased us with what might come of this year with The Hurt Will Go On, a three track EP showcasing some of the band’s most experimental material yet – and guess what? It was outstanding. The use of glitchy electronic elements in amongst brutal industrial hardcore (combined with complete disregard for traditional song structure) made it the best EP of the year by quite some distance, and it gave us a potential glimpse into what the next full-length release could sound like. Of course, there was also the fantastic Adult Swim single Only One Way released at the start of the year; a deranged alt-rock influenced track in the same vein as Forever’s biggest single; Bleeding In The Blur.

These tastes of what Code Orange could be capable of on a larger scale this year are tantalising, but I think it’s important to not have any real expectation of the sound of their next LP. It seems right now that the band’s capabilities are endless, and to see how far they can stretch the definition of hardcore is one of the most thrilling things in modern music, full stop.

PUP

Remember when I said there have been six 10/10 records since 2016? PUP’s last album, The Dream Is Over, easily makes that list. If I extended the time frame to 2013, their debut self-titled would make the cut too. What we’re discussing here, then, is a band who have only ever put out 10/10 albums. Why are you not counting down the days?

PUP are a punk rock band from Ontario, Canada who have made a name for themselves over the past five years with their shout-along choruses, deceptively intricate musicianship, and a simple inability to produce bad songs. Their new album, Morbid Stuff, will be out April 5^th (as recently announced in the pages of a zine the band put together themselves), and according to the announcement, the band believe it’s their “best record yet”, stating that “if you liked either of the last two records, you’ll really really like this one.” So if their word is anything to go by, you’ll see an 11/10 review on here in April.

It’ll be interesting to see where PUP go in 2019 when we look outside of the actual sonics of the music, too. While they’ve had a fairly sharp rise to success in the short span of their career, I feel like they’ve only just gotten started. The limit for their success is sky-high, and they’re destined to become 2000 Trees headliner-level within the 5 years (at least) as long as they keep putting out albums as good as the first two. Ensure you see them live on this album cycle, because it’s clear that they won’t be able to keep playing intimate venues much longer. Like the other bands I’ve talked about already, the only way for PUP is up.

If you’re reading this as someone looking in from the outside, load up Spotify now and give Dark Days or Sleep In The Heat a listen, and you’ll understand my mad ravings about PUP a bit more… and now you have another reason to be excited for the year ahead, too.

*The Six Tens are Instructions by HECK, Dissociation by The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Dream is Over by PUP, After the Party by The Menzingers, Science Fiction by Brand New, and Only Love by The Armed.