EP REVIEW: SAD BLOOD - 'LEGION OF GLOOM'

I don't know how many times I can say this on Randon's Reviews (or anywhere where I can chat bollocks, for that matter): it is such an exciting time to be in the UK punk scene right now. Whether they're pop-punk-y or grunge-y or alt-rock-y, the multitude of exciting up-and-coming bands stretches far beyond being strictly 'punk' in style or tone.

I would comfortably put SAD BLOOD in the same bracket as some of the spikier-sounding bands of their scene, thanks to their affinity for small DIY tours and house shows, and the fact that they can make a music video simply out of getting drunk and dicking around with puppets (see below for more on that).

Following on from the brief and brilliant debut Ultimate Worrier, the London trio's second EP LEGION OF GLOOM offers another five bursts of bright and breezy power-pop with spells of #relatable emo wistfulness.

You could say that melancholic lyricism is in this band's blood (boom boom). The band have previously spoken to Upset about how Legion Of Gloom soundtracks the process of "trying to create something positive out of something negative", and out of that comes lyrics are honest and humorously self-deprecating (precisely as the band's two EP titles suggest).

As you may have predicted after his sterling job not only on Ultimate Worrier, but also in manning the desk for Milk Teeth, Creeper, Press to MECO, Weatherstate and pretty much any other cool new UK band you can think of, producer Neil Kennedy has done what he does best yet again in preserving the squeaky-clean clarity that hits Sad Blood's anthems home... (Note to self: I really must get him on Bitchin' Brew just so we can chat about how brilliant all of these bands are....)

Legion Of Gloom may be two tracks longer than its predecessor, but oddly little less rhythmic and melodic variation than before. Nevertheless, 'Heavy Petting Zoo' clocks in at just 1:48 and is up there with the best (if fleeting) moments of new British music in 2016. Sad Blood are brimming with potential as a longer body of work surely looms over the coming months.

Throwing you as much jovial charm as it does miffed-out mellowness, Legion Of Gloom is pleasant, inoffensive and, as with most British punk EPs of late, over way too quickly, but infectious enough to loop a few times over. Whether you see them as happy songs for sad people, or sad songs for happy people, be sure to queue this up next to The Hotelier and that certified banger that is the new Moose Blood track for your emo picnic playlists.

TOP TRACKS: 'HEAVY PETTING ZOO'; 'FORMERLY CREATIVE'

RR RATING:

7 / 10

LEGION OF GLOOM IS OUT NOW. STREAM IT ON SOUNDCLOUD BELOW:

Happy people, sad people, drunk people, all people: until next time, peace out.

Danny

LATE TO THE PARTY #2: GLASSJAW - 'WORSHIP AND TRIBUTE'

First of all, I just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who bit their tongue when it came to me admitting that I had never heard Milo Goes To College by Descendents (read my take on it HERE). While I know that you shouldn't really need an excuse to check something out for the first time, I thought this would be a really cool way of making those confessions, and I hold absolutely no shame in making them.

That said, there are undoubtedly going to be some albums covered in the not-so-distant future that I know I've had so many opportunities to listen to before now, and I just need to take the WHAT?!'s and ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!'s on the chin.

I was a little bit anxious about this one, but what's the use in fannying around? UNTIL THIS WEEK, I HAD NEVER LISTENED TO GLASSJAW. Not a single note. If you were to have said the words 'Daryl Palumbo' to me last week, I wouldn't have thought 'Cosmopolitan Blood Loss'; I would have thought 'Beating Heart Baby', before strutting my stuff like an epileptic Jagger impersonator. Who can blame me?

If I didn't know who Daryl Palumbo was and you played me Head Automatica and Glassjaw back-to-back, I would have never put two and two together. After hearing WORSHIP AND TRIBUTE, I hold Palumbo in the same regard as Jason Aalon Butler from letlive. or perhaps even Chino Moreno from Deftones: a vocalist who is sometimes so violently emotional in their delivery that it sounds like they're on the verge of imploding, while also being able to schizophrenically switch to honey-smooth, insanely soulful crooning.

In fact, that's probably a really good way of describing this album: schizophrenic. It's an absolute headfuck from those ear-swapping guitars at the beginning of 'Tip Your Bartender' to that devastating breakdown at the end of 'Two Tabs Of Mescaline'. Even after intently listening to it three times, Worship And Tribute is continuously unpredictable and batshit crazy.

Before listening to Glassjaw, I'd seen them placed with the likes of The Used, Thrice, Brand New etc. as part of that second wave of emo/post-hardcore, and that makes sense when you hear the broodier, more delicate tracks on the album (especially 'Must've Run All Day' and 'Trailer Park Jesus'). What surprised me about Worship And Tribute, however, was how stylistically similar it was to the more progressive side of latter-day nu-metal. 

Tagging it with that sub-genre may seem like a taboo to some of you, and maybe 'alternative metal' would do it more justice, but if you listen to the scratchiness of the guitars, and the chorus on 'Cosmopolitan Blood Loss', there's definite links to bands like Deftones and Alien Ant Farm. I loved that scene as a kid, and ANThology ruled my stereo alongside P.O.D.'s Satellite, and I even went through this phase a couple of years ago of picking up on albums like Ideas Above Our Station by Hundred Reasons and S.C.I.E.N.C.E. by Incubus for the first time. 

Listening back to some of those albums from my childhood, I can't help but think that some of them, while still awesome, are dated as sin. Worship And Tribute, on the other hand, sounds anything but dated.

Luckily, the bands that survived that commercial death of nu-metal (soon after the release of Worship And Tribute in 2002) without some form of ridicule were the ones that were forward-thinking in their composition and instrumentation. Glassjaw can comfortably be counted amongst those enterprising bands; all you have to is listen to that absolute riffstorm of an intro to 'Mu Empire' (my personal favourite moment on the record) to hear the influence on what will eventually become the post-hardcore/'metalcore' scene a few years later.

With Glassjaw finally making progress on that long-awaited third album, people are raving over their return for way more than just nostalgia's sake. Now I can finally count myself amongst those ranks, I jumped back forward in time to check out their latest track, 'New White Extremity', and let me tell you: it's really not worth me taking my finger off Glassjaw's pulse any time soon.

IF YOU'RE LIKE ME (AKA A TOOL) AND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD WORSHIP AND TRIBUTE, OR YOU SIMPLY WANT TO LISTEN TO IT AGAIN, THEN YOU CAN STREAM IT ON SPOTIFY BELOW:

After setting up the various polls on Facebook and Twitter, Worship And Tribute did have the most votes out of the three suggested records, but it was in very close contention with The Offspring's Smash - I think it would be a bit dickish of me to now snub that album, so LTTP #3 on Smash will arrive in a couple weeks' time. Nevertheless, I have already picked another trio of never-before-heard albums for you to pick from for the fourth edition of this feature, and you are more than welcome to start commenting on which of the following albums you'd like me to give a blast...

Until next time, I'm off to dig out this bad boy. Because #nostalgia.

Danny

THE RR PLAYLIST VOL. II: THE BEST AND THE REST OF 2016 (SO FAR)

Wow, what a start to the year. As far as new music goes, 2016 is certainly shitting all over the last couple of years, and it only felt right for me to look back at some of the noteworthy records from the first two months with a big fuck-off playlist. And, believe me, there are a LOT of records...

I'll start this edition of The RR Playlist as I mean to continue, and that's fucking loudly... Now, BURY TOMORROW. As someone who immersed himself in that 'metalcore' scene around 2011/2012, a lot of which I now look back at in horror (yeah, I'm looking at you, Texas In July and Woe, Is Me), I don't know why Bury Tomorrow's records never had a lasting resonance with me. There's tracks like 'Lionheart' and 'Royal Blood' that are fucking huge, and the live shows have always been worth getting excited about, but when it came to the albums, I just felt a bit deflated and unfulfilled... until now.

EARTHBOUND is an absolute masterclass in how to do modern metal right, and I'm so glad that Bury Tomorrow have finally hit that nail square on the bonce. From the very start of that double-bass onslaught in 'THE ETERNAL', it is an unrelenting barrage of crushing hooks and beatdowns for which Bury Tomorrow have always had the potential to pull off, but have rarely been able to fully unleash. An absolute fucking crusher of a melodic metal album, and anyone who doubts them after this can take their copy of Stand Up And Scream and stick it sideways - this is the real deal.

Something which completely passed me by when it first dropped at the start of the year, but instantly went on this playlist after the first listen, was the return of PUP with 'DVP'. If you haven't heard PUP's self-titled debut album, you should probably stick that on first in order to understand how excited everyone (now including me) is for its follow-up, THE DREAM IS OVER, which is due out later this year. Through singles like 'Reservoir' and 'Mabu', they've established a sound which dips between scuzzy, shambolic garage-punk, and intensely-melodic, chorus-heavy alt-rock. Despite its frantic, face-melter of a lead hook, 'DVP''s verses and vocal harmonies make it a surefire beers-and-burritos summer soundtrack.

One of the bands I'm really looking forward to working with this year at Hassle Records is MAX RAPTOR, who are going to be releasing their second album in April (*NOT A PLUG*). They've been around for a few years now, but thanks to tracks like 'OLD ROMANTICS', they're finally finding a way to punch into the upper echelons of British punk rock. I feel like this track in particular is a gateway track to those bigger things - the melodies and the choruses sound more crowd-pleasing on the same kind of level as Against Me!'s latest work (something which I didn't realise until it was pointed out on That's Not Metal last week), but it's still got that proper 'UP THE PUNX' snarl which has always made them a little bit more authentic and visceral than their contemporaries. Bloody good job by my #TeamHassle cohorts there.

Now I've chatted for a bit about a couple of the punk albums that should keep me on my toes for the rest of the year, let's chat about one of the punk albums which made 2016 a biggie in the first place: VILE CHILD, the sensational debut album by MILK TEETH. I'll refer you to MY FULL REVIEW of this record when it dropped back in January, but 'BRAIN FOOD' is arguably the best place to start in order to summarise both the turbulent, transformative stage that Milk Teeth have been going through lately, as well what we can expect from them in the future: it's playful and poppy, but still carries those 90s-as-fuck vibes from the spikier and more aggressive end of the grunge spectrum. And you know what else? I saw them open their set with it the other night when they supported Tonight Alive, and it is an absolute stormer live.

I want to step away from the punkier side of things for a few tracks, firstly by looking at an album which pleasantly took me by surprise. My only experience of SAVAGES prior to diving into their second record, ADORE LIFE, was a pretty kick-ass performance on Later With... Jools Holland from a few years back, and while I was expecting something a bit noisier and rougher around the edges, this record grooves with elements of desert rock (especially on opening track 'THE ANSWER', which almost sounds like Sleater-Kinney covering Queens Of The Stone Age), before pulsing with the darker, jauntier sounds akin to 80s synth-pop. It's not quite blown my skirt up enough for me to go back to it over and over again, but this album has definitely got appeal far beyond my expectations.

This is where we really verge into poppier, more mainstream territories which, if ventured into right, can really tick my boxes. As we established when I ranked their White Noise videos from 'worst' to best, I am an absolute sucker for PVRIS at the moment, and while their latest single, 'YOU AND I', is the closest to mainstream pop that PVRIS have been so far, I know that the band's gloomier side is still very present, and that they still have it in them to keep writing absolute anthems with really dark and sinister undertones. 'You And I', with the greatest of respects to the rest of the band, is all about Lynn Gunn coming full circle as an absolute powerhouse of a frontwoman, and 2016 is without a shadow of a doubt the year that this band goes global.

PANIC! AT THE DISCO dropped off my radar for a few years, but at the start of the year they (or him) found their way firmly back into my heart for the first time since A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. That's thanks to DEATH OF A BACHELOR: a comeback album that, on the face of it, is cornier than Fat Bastard's shite, but is actually the sum of cinematic production and uncompromising attitude. With the Beyonce-goes-big-band title track amongst other pop-'rock' party bangers, this is Brendon Urie at his most indulgent and shameless, delivering with the same vaudevillian sass that made Fever... a modern classic. I have a long-standing problem with Fall Out Boy making pop music this glossy, but that's probably because they've made Take This To Your Grave and From Under The Cork Tree, and the new stuff is a pile of toss in comparison (actually, not even in comparison: American Beauty / American Psycho is pathetic in its own right). With Panic!, it's a different situation: this has always been a big part of what Urie does, and the level of craft with which he flaunts it is genius.

From one extreme to the other, THE BLACK QUEEN delve into a much more ominous corner of pop, sounding like a warped amalgam of the Drive soundtrack, mixtape-era The Weeknd, Depeche Mode, Crosses and No Devotion. I admittedly don't know much about The Dillinger Escape Plan beyond 'Milk Lizard' and the time Greg Puciato shat in a bag onstage at Reading Festival, but The Black Queen's debut album, FEVER DAYDREAM, still knocked me for six. It's the sort of record that goes 'you think you know Greg Puciato? Well here you go...' and BAM! - tracks like 'Ice To Never' and 'APOCALYPSE MORNING' throw you a huge curveball with enchanting results. Even as someone who's not so clued up about Dillinger, this is not the album you'd expect Puciato to come out with in a million years, but what a milestone of artistic achievement this will be for that man.

I can't say a bad word against LONELY THE BRAVE, and that's not because they're on Hassle Records. I was a fan long before I joined the team at Hassle, and they are without a doubt the most humbled and down-to-earth band I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with. Not to mention the fact that they've written some of the biggest choruses I've heard in my life, with 'BLACK MIRE' proving no exception. If you thought that their debut album, The Day's War, reached new levels of anthemic rock, then you haven't heard anything yet. Working with Ross Orton (who most famously produced Arctic Monkeys' AM) has clearly brought out the best in all of the band, and this first returning single sets a very exciting precedent for their second album, THINGS WILL MATTER, which is out on May 20th.

There's a reason this edition of The RR Playlist is called 'The Best AND THE REST Of 2016', and that's because I really hoped that BASEMENT's new album was a bit better than it turned out to be. Maybe it's because it was so hyped up after the band went on hiatus, maybe it's because they set the bar a bit too high with the contemporary emo opus that is Colourmeinkindness... That said, there are a handful songs on PROMISE EVERYTHING that are well worth your time, and a couple from those handful have some of Basement's finest moments within them. If they took the verses from 'BROTHER'S KEEPER' which really drive home that early Foo Fighters influence, and put them with the choruses from 'Aquasun' and 'For You The Moon', and then used that formula over the course of a whole record (with variations, of course), then we'd be looking at our #1 Album of 2016 already.

Here's one that went on the playlist last minute after hearing it on the Radio 1 Rock Show literally made me stop and stare at my speakers. NOTHING's debut album, Guilty Of Everything, was adored by a lot of people around me but sadly passed me by. I rectified that as soon as I heard 'VERTIGO FLOWERS', and boy, I sure am excited to hear the new album, TIRED OF TOMORROW, when it drops in May. The band still have the dreaminess of their earlier, shoegaze-y material, but they've also developed an ear for catchy-as-fuck alt-rock choruses. Keep listening until the end for a monumental breakdown which will hit you right in the centre of the feels.

I'll keep this next one pretty brief, as I recently spoke about the record in some detail (you can read my review HERE), but I cannot stress how important it is for you to listen to RAIN and their debut EP, SYMPHONY PAINS. It's a shame that the grunge revival scene of late is already starting to drip-feed us some bands that just sound lethargic in all the wrong ways, making distorted, 90s-esque noise for the sake of sounding purposefully 'nostalgic', but Rain feel much more authentic and are of greater potential by taking those washed-out guitar tones and applying it to massive-sounding alt-rock (as best heard on the single 'SLUR'). Definitely one of the shining stars of their scene right now.

The only scene surrounded by more buzz (and rightfully so) is the UK punk scene; from the re-emergence of the DIY ethos and kitchen shows, to bands punching into the upper echelons of alternative music as a whole. MUNCIE GIRLS sit very comfortable between both ends of the spectrum, and even as their fanbase grows on a daily basis, they've kept the passion and ideals of a DIY punk band on their heroic debut album, FROM CAPLAN TO BELSIZE. Track after track after track, it is a fucking ridiculously infectious record, but the lyrics are thought-provoking and revolutionary, just like punk rock should be. So if you're like me and you feel so confused by contemporary politics that it leaves you clueless as to what to actually do, here's what you do: stick on 'LEARN IN SCHOOL' and embrace your radical side. Muncie Girls are the socially-conscious punk band of this generation.

In terms of momentum-building, WEATHERSTATE are following not too far behind their peers, and the more and more I listen to their debut EP, DUMBSTRUCK, the more I think that giving it 3/5 for Upset was a bit over-critical. Here's the thing: a couple of years ago, you'd look at these sort of snotty underground punk kids and think 'this will never go beyond toilet venues', but like several of the bands on this list, Weatherstate have it in them to go way beyond that. It's thanks to songs with massive early Green Day-esque choruses like 'STUCK IN A HOLE', and when I listen back to the EP (which I have done frequently), I could maybe justify my criticism with the fact that this is just the start of something a lot bigger.

The excitement around the UK punk scene now expands far beyond the sounds that you might generally perceive as 'punk rock'. This burgeoning community also welcomes in bands from scenes of emo and grunge revival, hardcore and alt-rock, the latter of which has bands like PRETEND HAPPY to boast. This band found their way into my peripherals via the UK Emo/Grunge and UK Pop-Punk groups on Facebook (both brilliant places to go if you want to edge your way further into that community), and through the likes of 'HELLP' and 'Arsonist', they show songwriting chops far beyond their infancy as a band on their debut album, TIRED EYES: a record bursting at its seams with astounding clarity and powerful melodic choruses.

This next record is a weird one, because even after half a dozen plays of their latest EP, WHOLLY, I didn't really 'get' GRADER until I saw them live (where they proceeded tear my jaw from my face) last week. At first it just sounds like bog-standard hardcore with really divisive vocals, but when you saw the bare-bones emotion that the band pour into their performance, then you listen back to the EP and the catharsis behind the music makes a lot more sense. Sometimes that happens with bands, which is why it's so important to check them out live on support slots or at small shows. Listening back to the EP after seeing them live, tracks like 'WILT' (featuring Will Gould from Creeper, but more about them in a minute) strike so much more of a chord, and now I can see why they people see them as such bright lights on the UK hardcore scene.

Speaking of bright lights, and Will Gould, and Creeper... let's face it: there's only one band that could have ended this playlist, and NO, I don't think I am ever going to shut up about them. Muncie Girls may be the "socially-conscious punk band of our generation", but CREEPER are the punk band of our generation, full stop. I've already spoken at length about THE STRANGER EP (again, you can read my review of it HERE), but I just want to say this: when they played The Underworld last week, I witnessed a band coming full circle in terms of their concept, their theatricality and their truly captivating presence on stage, and when they played 'MISERY', it became even clearer to me that Creeper (as well as perhaps Lonely The Brave on account of how massive they sound) are going to be the next British band to conquer arenas, and I couldn't be prouder of them. Until then, though, let's just take pride in the fact that they're playing venues without barriers, and we can still stagedive our fucking legs off to them.

There you go: that's a massive playlist to tide you over for a little while, and as ever, you can stream the playlist above via the RR Spotify. I've been working on some pretty cool stuff for the blog in the near future, but until then, I want to know which records have been making your 2016 (so far) awesome. Pop it in the comments below, or hit me up on Facebook and Twitter, and who knows? I may like it enough to stick it in The RR Playlist #3. Or not, I can be a cynical prick sometimes.

I'm also always up for hearing your music, so if you are in a band that you think I could comfortably wrap my ears around, send your sounds to RANDONSREVIEWS@GMAIL.COM.

Fin.

Danny

EP REVIEW: RAIN - 'SYMPHONY PAINS'

One thing that I always loved doing when Randon's Reviews was on Tumblr (don't judge) was recommending the works of some of my favourite music journalists, and I wanted to bring that back a bit today to introduce this review. I read an article online the other day by Ryan De Freitas, a wicked writer who I feel proud to be working alongside for Upset magazine, about how the 'emo revival' scene of late is now way past the point of being a revival, and how some bands from that scene (Modern Baseball, The World Is A Beautiful Place..., Into It. Over It., etc.) are starting to stand on their own merits. I'll leave the following quote below to give you a taster of the article, which you can and should read HERE:

"FOR MANY, THE MAIN COMPLAINT REGARDING THE 'REVIVAL' TAG WAS THAT IT SUGGESTED EPHEMERALITY; THAT THIS WAS MERELY ANOTHER FAD FOR CRITICS TO ROLL THEIR EYES AT. NOW AT THE START OF 2016, ( ... ) THOSE COMPLAINTS ARE PROVING MORE VALID THAN EVER. BECAUSE IT WASN'T A FAD. IT WAS THE RESULT OF HARDWORKING BANDS THAT SHARED INFLUENCES FINDING BOTH EACH OTHER AND A FANBASE."

To a degree, I feel like the same sentiments can also be applied to the 'grunge revival' that's been making waves lately, but in this case it's so important to distinguish the lackadaisical from the lethargic. The sounds and ideals of grunge needs to be revisited with a bit more craft and inventiveness than just plugging your Fender Jaguar into a bunch of distortion and modulation pedals (NB: I'm not a guitar geek). I'll quote another great journalist, Rock Sound's Gav Lloyd in his review of Milk Teeth's Vile Child, to accentuate my point: "WEARING A CARDIGAN DOES NOT MAKE YOU KURT COBAIN." *

* I'm paraphrasing here because I can't find my copy of the review, but that quote really stuck with me so I think I got it right. Sorry to Gav if I misquoted him (please don't sue).

RAIN are a shining example of a new British band that are bringing those nostalgic vibes of 90's alt-rock back to the fore, but also join bands like Title Fight and Hindsights in taking it to stratospheric new levels. Put simply, their debut EP, SYMPHONY PAINS, is bedroom-demo shoegaze being played on an arena-rock scale-- Actually, I'm not even sure if it's on the fucking scale. It sounds MASSIVE.

While you may think that the sort of sounds being dealt out by bands of this ilk belongs in dive bars and house shows, Rain have harnessed the all-conquering ethos of 90s britpop to take their melodies to a sonically higher place. All you need to do is listen to the first 7 seconds of opening track 'Slur', and you will realise that this is more than just simple chords and psychedelic guitar tones. In fact, let me try and give you an exact recap of the first time I listened to 'Slur':

00.00.01: "OKAY, SOME PRETTY RETRO VIBES COMING OFF OF THIS, NOT BAD, I LIKE THAT GUITAR TONE, ETC."

00.00.06: "WHAT THE FUCK?! HOLY SHIT, THIS IS HUGE! WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON RIGHT NOW? IS THIS HEAVEN?"

Maybe I exaggerated on that bit about heaven, but you catch my drift, and that's just the first 7 seconds of the song. You just wait until you hear the other 5 minutes and 36 seconds .of it: there's choruses which you would struggle to describe as anything other than 'cataclysmic', and ethereal vocal harmonies in the verses to keep you mellow and safe from a full-on emo breakdown.

The fact that there's plenty of moments that evoke the same emotional response as 'Slur''s explosive opening is testament to how good Symphony Pains is. 'Slur' is undeniably the 'big hitter' that rings with eye-watering clarity, but over the course of the EP's 15 minutes, you are met with euphoric, luscious melodies as they spiral upward towards warm, washed-out hooks and shit-kicking drums, all the way through to 'Dandelion''s devastating conclusion.

It would take some bands a whole album to sound as epic as Rain do in just three tracks. The fact that the band have already paid another visit to the recording studio between the recording and release of Symphony Pains means that it's an extremely promising start for Rain, as they join the growing list of bands breaking through the cursed mould of the revivalist scene.

TOP TRACKS: 'SLUR'; 'INDIGO IN BLUE'

RR RATING:

SYMPHONY PAINS IS OUT NOW ON CLOSE TO HOME RECORDS. STREAM THE EP ON SPOTIFY BELOW:

P.S. I know I ended up incoherently dribbling about this EP at certain points in its review, and I'm not apologetic of that at all because that's how I wanted my style on this blog to be in the first place, but if you want to read some of my proper writing, you can grab the next issue of Upset magazine from Friday (March 4th), which features my review of Neck Deep's recent show in London. I think I only incoherently dribbled about Creeper in that review, because why wouldn't I?

P.P.S. Thanks to everyone who helped me hit 1000 page views on this blog over the last two months. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but consider how shitty Blogger's SEO is, it's the ultimate pay-off and it means the fucking world to me.

Until next time, peace out. That's a 90s thing to say, right?

Danny

EP REVIEW: CREEPER - 'THE STRANGER'

A lot of you saw probably saw this review coming, seeing as I think I've done pretty well in not spaffing all over this blog about how much I fucking love Creeper. Not only have they written some of the best punk rock songs of our generation, but they are on the cusp of something explosive, stratospheric even.

I get the same vibe from Creeper as I did when My Chemical Romance breached the mainstream with Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge: it feels more accessible musically than a lot of the music of the scene that they stemmed from, but at the same time they still stood proud on behalf of the freaks and outsiders, uncompromising and otherworldly. MCR may have become more of a corporate machine in their later days, but in that moment, between Three Cheers... and The Black Parade, it was a bold and brilliant time for 'alternative' music. With Creeper, I feel that excitement again as the cult-like fanbase around them continues to grow. With the Callous Heart patch proudly sewn onto my denim jacket, I have undoubtedly succumbed to the Creeper Cult. 

What initially seemed to be a bunch of punk misfits with a dark delight for the macabre is now a troupe of punk craftsmen (and craftswoman) with a dark delight for the macabre. Everything from the iconography to the two-part fairytale that concludes with The Stranger has been created meticulously, but never in a contrived manner, especially not on this, their most personal release to date.

Their last EP, The Callous Heart, set an alluring precedent that saw bigger, more mainstream audiences flocking to see them on support slots and in small club gigs: it was fast, it was fun, but above all, it was profound. The Stranger's role in Creeper's grandiose production, as frontman Will Gould explains in a recent behind-the-scenes vid, is to embody "time and the things we fear". It's with that concept in mind that I think this EP represents Creeper going 'right, we can write great punk rock choruses, but what else can we blow people's minds with?', and out came this fucking massive-sounding rock record.

On first listen, the sheer craft, pace and majesty of The Stranger is startling and almost seems like a bit of a curveball, and perhaps that would be the case if it was a stand-alone release. However, when it's lined up in succession to The Callous Heart, it's a natural element of Creeper's sound and this is the glorious moment where it comes to fruition. Do yourself a favour and listening to both records back-to-back; that's where you will learn to truly appreciate the craft of this record. 

They still have those fist-in-the-air anthems like 'Black Mass', which throws around influences from Alkaline Trio to Elvis like it's nobody's business, and is probably one of the best songs that Creeper will ever write. But then there's also songs like the opening track, 'The Secret Society': a swelling build-up into a somewhat Bat Out Of Hell-esque eruption with all the pomp of a rock opera, before giving way to 'Valentine''s uncannily Three Cheers...-era verses and huge swaying choruses.

With 'Novena' and 'Henley's Ghost' now , one thing that often gets overlooked with Creeper is their ability to write heart-wrenching balladry. 'Misery' is hardly the token ballad in this EP of frank admissions and cathartic lyricism, but it will have fans singing "Misery never goes out of style" in their arena-sized masses, and you can take that to the bank: Creeper will one day be playing arenas, and it's thanks to songs like 'Misery'.

Now, to any punk rock purists out there: you can calm their tits if you think that this is the sound of Creeper selling out so early in the game. They are not slowing down, they are not taming. They are just sonically expanding to justify those grand concepts and narratives - not that they had anything to prove in the first place. The songs were always there, as was the concept, but finally it feels like they are mutually thriving off of one another.

Around the release of their debut EP, I would have classed Creeper as 'promising'. With The Callous Heart, they became exciting. Now, at the end of this wonderful saga, Creeper are important, and as they look ahead to the next chronicle that they have beautifully set the stage for, it feels like their most enchanting moment is yet to come.

TOP TRACKS: 'Black Mass'; 'Misery'; 'The Secret Society'

 RR RATING:

The Stranger is out February 19th on Roadrunner Records. Click here to stream the EP before its release via the band's website.

Beware the Callous Heart...

Danny

LATE TO THE PARTY: DESCENDENTS - 'MILO GOES TO COLLEGE'

LATE TO THE PARTY is a new feature on Randon's Reviews that I'd been mulling over in my head for a little while now. In a nutshell, it involves me giving my thoughts on 'classic' albums that, up until recently, I had never heard. That's about it really.

I don't see admitting that I had never listened to the records that will eventually feature on here as a loss of integrity - I'm only a young music journalist, every day is a learning curve, and even though I do call myself a 'music journalist', that does not mean I have listened to every piece of recorded music ever. I don't even think that's even humanly possible, so yeah, lower your expectations, chumps.

I'm always up for recommendations (in this instance, I've left a list of three albums for you to choose from for the next edition at the bottom of this post), so hit me up on the RR Facebook page or on Twitter if you have a suggestion and I'll definitely consider it - unless I have actually heard it before.

In the meantime, let's get stuck in to the first record, which some of you may know as one of the most influential punk records of all time: Descendents' MILO GOES TO COLLEGE...

All that I had to go off of before diving into Milo Goes To College was Descendents' iconic mascot, photos of the band, and an understanding that this album is often regarded as one of the earliest pop-punk albums. What I was met with as soon as I hit 'Play' could not be further from my expectations. When you look at the band physically, you can't help but think that they'll have vibes of early college rock (or similar veins of alt-rock) about their sound. How wrong I was...

This is a fucking fast album. To put it into perspective, I thought it would make good listening for my commute home from college, but I was barely out of the college gates by the time the first three tracks were wrapped up. By the time I walked from campus to the train station, the album was done. I barely had time to think. It's relentless, it's raucous, and it sounds like (*cue done-to-death 'barfight' cliché*) Fugazi and The Germs having a nasty little scrap.

If you think that Milo Goes To College is just a bunch of snotty Californian kids shouting 1 2 3 4! and going apeshit for a minute and a half, before repeating said formula 14 times over, you wouldn't be miles off the money, even I thought that on my first listen. This is young, dumb, full-of-cum, stagedive-your-fucking-legs-off hardcore punk, and while Descendents are clearly not as politically antagonistic as bands like Black Flag or Dead Kennedys, Milo Goes To College are far from a stupid, gratuitously thrashy punk record.

If you're not entirely convinced by the above statement, do yourself a favour and listen to the intro to 'Tonyage': those frantic time signatures and that guitar sound is like something that I would perhaps liken to some of Biffy Clyro's artier material. Then there's the bassist, Tony Lombardo, and his work throughout the record. Forgive me, I'm no bassist, but this isn't just the same three chords over and over again: it is complex and, dare I say it, funky, and when you put it with the sheer batshit intensity of Bill Steven's drumming, you have quite simply some of the best rhythm work that I have ever heard in punk rock (sorry, Dad).

Still not convinced? The band's frontman, Milo Aukerman, has a job as a plant researcher and has a fucking doctorate in biochemistry. BOOM.

As for Milo Goes To College's status as a precursor to the wonderful thing that is pop-punk, I must admit that I could not hear a shred of poppy sensibility on first listen. I was probably too busy comprehending how fast and frank it was. The more I listened to it, however, the more I detected that razor-sharp attention to melody, especially on tracks like 'Suburban Home', which sounds like the missing link between the Ramones and Green Day. That said, Descendents still maintain that brash, hardcore edge throughout, as well as encapsulating a radical sense of suburban teenage anxiety and frustration, something which reaches a psychotic boiling point on 'Parents' ("WHY WON'T THEY SHUT UPPP?!").

I've seen the last couple of years as a real 'journey of punk rock discovery', for lack of a less twatty phrase, and even after coming across bands like Fugazi and Black Flag for the first time, I don't know why Milo Goes To College, or Descendents as a whole, has passed me by. The songs (with perhaps the exception of 'Suburban Home') haven't quite stuck in my head the way that Rancid, the Ramones and The Wildhearts did when my Dad me those records as a kid, and Descendents haven't yet resonated with me like letlive., Gallows and The King Blues did when they first bombarded into my life, but that's not to say that it's a fucking awesome punk rock record that I ended up listening to three times in a row.

If you also haven't heard Milo Goes To College (or just want to listen to it again), stream the album via Spotify below:

... And now to tackle the issue of what album will pop my aural cherry next, as it were. Below are three records which I have never heard, and I want you to choose one of them. Comment below, hit me up on Facebook, or Tweet me. Be nice or go away:

Up the punx.

Danny