Neck DeepAlbum by Neck DeepReleased 19 January 2024Pop PunkLabel – HopelessRating – 5/10 Neck Deep’s self-titled, quite simply, flaunts the band’s love of pop punk and emo. – I’ve often wondered if Neck Deep exists simply to keep a sound alive, or better yet, to keep an era alive. Even in their Life’s Not Out […]
Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a PassengerAlbum by awakebutstillinbedReleased 20 October 2023Midwest EmoLabel – Tiny EnginesRating – 9/10 Shannon Taylor’s collection of emo skyscrapers. – In 2018, we caught a fleeting glimpse of the potential of San Jose emo act awakebutstillinbed. The occasional EP has since been released, including last year’s split release […]
VoidAlbum by KEN ModeReleased 22 September 2023Post-Hardcore / Sludge MetalProduced by Andrew SchneiderRating – 6/10 Null’s sister album comes with as many missing parts. That doesn’t really make sense, does it? – I’d just started writing this review of KEN Mode’s Void before glancing at my review of last year’s Null, and then noticed my […]
Enola GayAlbum by Asia MenorReleased 25 August 2023Art Punk / Post-PunkLabel – FisuraRating – 8/10 Post-y genius and military charges. – Not a lot is known about Asia Menor, but here are some of the HARD FACTS… *HARD FACTS THEME MUSIC PLAYS* And there you have it, review over. Kidding, we’ve got a good deal […]
So Much (for) StardustAlbum by Fall Out BoyReleased 24 March 2023Pop RockProduced by Neal AvronRating – 6/10 Brought to you by nostalgia. – Growing up with a number of friends reliant on the emo scene of the mid-to-late 2000s (I mean, it still exists, just not quite so much in popular music), I’m very familiar […]
How to Sink SlowlyAlbum by BrokenTeethAlbum by 23 February 2023Shoegaze / Post-RockLabel – PoclanosRating – 7.5/10 Finding new ways to break teeth. – With opening track The Sun is Setting containing a pinch of Slint, the compositional trajectory – and guitar style – of Midwestern emo, and a slacker’s stare, it sets the stage for […]
Coping MechanismAlbum by WillowReleased 7 October 2022Alternative RockLabel – Roc NationRating – 6.5/10 Continuing Willow’s indefinite alt rock stay. – Willow Smith has become infatuated, not with the head-banging or fashion of alternative rock, but the genre’s emotional offload. Fully-fledged, last year’s Lately I Feel Everything steered the black mascara of her emo ocean, understanding […]
In Loving MemoryAlbum by blackbearReleased 26 August 2022Pop Punk / Emo PopLabel – AlamoRating – 3/10 – If Machine Gun Kelly’s Mainstream Sellout has led to anything positive, that’d be Pat Finnerty’s takedown of the album, more specifically the song Emo Girl, via the seventh instalment of his ‘What Makes This Song Stink’ series. In […]
40 oz. to FresnoAlbum by Joyce ManorReleased 10 June 2022Pop PunkProduced by Rob SchnapfRating – 7.5/10 Joyce Manor are hungover again. – I first heard Joyce Manor’s NBTSA when its original, demo-like lo-fi version was released as part of Polyvinyl’s 4-Track Singles Series. Its obdurate, cannon-firing chorus, repeating the words “never be the same again” […]
FawnAlbum by FoxtailsReleased 14 January 2022Post-Hardcore / ScreamoLabel – Skeletal LightningRating – 8/10 A post-hardcore band with multiple distinctions. – There is a natural reverb applied to Foxtails’ fourth album Fawn, one of its novel, churchlike components. Jared Schmidt’s consistent violin embraces these roomy echoes, turning post-hardcore into chamber-core. All is utilised to present slow-burning […]
PEANUTBUTTERPOPE 