Young Guns - Echoes

If you read our review on Taking Back Sunday's newest record from the other day, you'll know my opinions of alternative rock, and what it should be. Things get boring when bands don't try and push the boundaries of a genre that's admittedly oversaturated with artists that have the same sound.

There are plenty of great bands who do something different and memorable with their music, though. Some make statements, while others bring in new elements from elsewhere. Lots of bands have brought in influence from electronica, and it's becoming hard to do it well. Young Guns nailed the electronic rock sound on their new album, Echoes, though!

The album's blend of electronica and alternative rock is some of the best the genre has seen in awhile. 'Mad World' is perhaps the pinnacle of this on the album. The song's massive atmosphere is the result of cavernous, stadium-filling drums and an electrifying guitar riff that open the song, leading into the immense choruses with huge power in them.

Another moment that exhibits some great power is 'Bulletproof', the album's opening track. It immediately becomes clear that vocalist Gustav Wood has one of the best voices in alt. rock; the perfect amount of strength, smoothness, and raspiness make his voice an important of the band's sound. His range is also pretty impressive, considering the beginning track alone. The great guitar of 'Bulletproof' gives way to the synth intro of title track 'Echoes', which is pure alternative rock with its simple verses and big choruses. It even has that poetic writing style to it, most notably the line "You're beautiful when you decay" in the choruses.

 With all its great moments, there are still a few dull ones. The center of the album is where the real electronic meat comes in, and some tracks are pretty standard. We get Starset vibes in 'Awakening' and some great, empowering gang vocals, but other than that the music feels pretty standard, like we've heard it all before. 'Living In A Dream Is So Easy' is completely standard without much else to offer. They also attempted to end the album on some slower tracks - three, which is far too many, and with not enough to offer. Starting the trifecta with 'Mercury In Retrograde', it gets off on a sweet start, but an underwhelming start all the same. The following songs are pretty average and don't offer much, ending the album off on a weak note.

Echoes is a good album, but not great. It shows that Young Guns has a lot of potential, and four albums into their career you know they're posing a threat to their competition. Their sound keeps getting stronger, but it's not quite at a point where it could be truly something fascinating. Maybe their next record will be the one that changes things.

Favorite Tracks: Mad World, Bulletproof, Echoes

Least Favorite Tracks: Living In A Dream Is So Easy, Mercury In Retrograde

Rating: 75 / 100

Die Antwoord - Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid

Die Antwoord and "safe" can never go together in the same sentence. South Africa's most eclectic group is back with their fourth record Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid is just as odd as their premise.

You can never go into a Die Antwoord album expecting something, not because it won't live up to those expectations, but because there's nothing you can expect from it: it's going to be weird. Intro track 'We Have Candy' - also the album's original title - is a long skit, which really just sounds like an odd family dinner. 'Daddy' follows up and continues being odd, where the spoiled daughter of the family begs her dad for whatever she wants. It's super catchy though, so the weird premise can be excused. 'Banana Brain' continues on with the playful feel of the beginning of the record, EDM beats making up the instrumental.

Nothing is quite as playful (if that's the right word for it) as the center of the album, when Lil Tommy Terror comes in. There's nothing like half-paying attention to a record and all of a sudden hearing a little boy praying to God, asking "When I wake up, can I please have wings on my penis," then continue to rap about drawing dicks everywhere and cursing. It's a truly enlightening experience. After edgily ending the song off with one final "Fuck you," another skit plays called 'U Like Boobies?' where Yolandi tries to convince Lil Tommy to buy access to a hole, that has many, many crazy things within it: guns, aliens, rats...

As Tommy buys into the hole, Jack Black creepily sings about rats in the next song on top of a Halloween-esque organ instrumental. The instrumentals on the album are pretty diverse; from the EDM influence in 'Banana Brains' to the epic rave vibes of closure track 'I Don't Care' to the odd carnival vibes in 'Shit Just Got Real' featuring Sen Dog, a lot of ground is covered. Other great moments include the dark and mysterious hip-hop beats of 'Darkling' and oddly captivating atmosphere of 'Alien'. It's creepy, but absorbing.

My main gripe with the album is that I don't really understand the direction. I get the whole weird concept of the group, and what they try to accomplish with their music, but is there some big message? Is this album just meant to be fun? The intro skit sets it up to be some story about a family and a boy who suddenly gets super powers... but why? How? There's so many questions that this album raises, and not in a good way. Questions from albums should be generated from a bigger picture, or if it's a narrative, what's going on in the narrative. The question shouldn't be what happened to the narrative and plot?

Die Antwoord isn't for everyone. Their weirdness is a bit too much at times, but at all the same time it's grabbing. You want to search for something within the music, regardless of if something's in there or not. There's a certain curiosity their music creates, and that's worth it in the end. Mount Ninji is a wildly confusing album, which takes away from that. I've taken little in from it, and at the end I just don't understand what I've heard. I guarantee there's more to it than what I can put together, but after all of this, I'm unsure of if I even want to know what's happening.

Favorite Tracks: Daddy, I Don't Care

Least Favorite Tracks: Stoopid Rich, Fat Faded Fuck Face, Street Light

Rating: 59 / 100

Touché Amoré - Stage Four

Cancer is a cruel monster. It strikes at the most innocent and undeserving people, regardless of age, sex, religion, race... its only mission is to destroy. Thousands of people lose their lives to the condition daily, and even more people lose their loved ones every day as a result of it. That's what Jeremy Bolm, Touché Amoré's lead vocalist, discusses on the band's new album Stage Four.

Bolm lost his mother to cancer in 2014, during the band's cycle for their critically acclaimed third album Is Survived By. In that time, Bolm has been learning to cope with the loss of his mother, going through the stages of grief. He's channeled that flurry of emotions in Stage Four.

Touché Amoré's music isn't exactly the normal type of deep. There's meaning often hidden within the provocative lines Bolm writes. There's something different with the writing on Stage Four, though. Perhaps it's simply the fact that the album covers a topic that's much more easier to understand as a whole, but while listening to the lyrics you can really get a sense of the meaning without having to think too much. It's not to say the meanings are blatant, but rather they're written in that perfect balance of what he feels and what he wants to say. The clearest example is in lead single 'Palm Dreams', where he screams "Was it all the palm trees / Placed where they shouldn't be" in the choruses. It's a line that invokes a dreamy image of things being out of place, but goes even deeper to reference his mother's choice to move from Colorado to California.

The reason why she did that is unknown to Bolm, and that's the premise of the song: the regret of not asking these questions before it was too late. A lot of the album is about regret, or simply just confusion. Opening track 'Flowers and You' brings the album in on a light note with sweet guitars and a light hi-hat, leading into a uncharacteristically upbeat instrumental under Bolm's heavy vocals that shows struggle with the idea of how his mother stayed so faithful to God when it would be he who granted her with cancer. The idea is pondered about again in 'Displacement', this time with an edgier yet still optimistic instrumental, where Bolm screams of not being able to have faith in God like his mother did after her passing.

Other songs express personal sadness, as well. 'New Halloween' is about how her passing still seems like it happened yesterday, even though its been well over a year (at the time of writing the song) since her passing. The instrumental is oddly upbeat and happy sounding, unlike the premise. One of the hardest hitting tracks is 'Eight Seconds', which is about the immediate depression upon learning the news. The ending lines are so simple, yet so hard-hitting all the same: "Made the call and stared at my feet / She passed away about an hour ago / When you were onstage living the dream."

Outside of its phenomenal writing, Stage Four shows a new musical direction. It became evident in 'Skyscraper' - which we reviewed upon it's release (read that here) - that this album was going to be something very different from the band. You can hear it in a lot of the instrumentals, too. There's not pure darkness and heavy instrumentals on the record. There's upbeat, optimistic songs (as mentioned before) that seem to contrast the vocals in a sad way, as if they're the joys of life and the world surrounding Bolm who can't appreciate them due to his loss. Dreamy guitars and clean vocals build into a massive explosion of emotion in 'Skyscraper' as Bolm sings of his mother's dream of seeing the east coast, which unfortunately never got to happen. An added part on the album version is a voicemail from his mother - the last one he ever received from her. It's a cathartic ending to the album, taking it out on a tragic but fitting finality.

Cancer is cruel. When it takes the people who are closest to us, it's hard to cope with. It'll stay with you for a long time, if not forever. Touché Amoré channeled all of Bolm's grief and confusion in Stage Four is a beautiful way. It's not perfect - the new sound is something they need to work on - but its emotional, and a strong release of emotion for Bolm, even a necessary one. Turning pain into art can become a beautifully tragic thing.

Favorite Tracks: Eight Seconds, Skyscraper, Displacement, Palm Dreams

Least Favorite Tracks: New Halloween, Benediction

Rating: 77 / 100

Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave

Alternative rock is a great genre - my personal favorite. The saddest thing to see in such a great genre is when bands put the absolutely standard effort into their releases, trying to boost sales and appeal by doing the absolute minimum. You can imagine the disappointment when Taking Back Sunday's new album Tidal Wave has little if any innovation, or even an attempt at getting out of their comfort zone.

In such an extensive and massively populated genre, you need one of two things to succeed in it: either something different in your sound or a following that you got at the start of one of the genres movements. Taking Back Sunday followed the second of the two, their formation in 1999 and their post-hardcore roots gaining them a following as they evolved from the screamo mainstream to alternative rock.

It doesn't seem to have done them any favors as far as Tidal Wave is concerned. Seeing progression like that from a band is always great, but it needs something to it, or else it just seems like they're selling out and doing it for the money. This album starts off with promise in 'Death Wolf', a big beginning to the record that does sound pretty standard as it progresses. The rock vibes are evident within the verses and chorus, creating momentum and setting the tone of the album. The title track 'Tidal Wave' follows suit, carrying the momentum and tone forward in much the same way the previous track did. It's almost hard to differentiate the two songs, them being so similar and appearing consecutively.

It's excusable to have a few tracks that have a familiar sound, but the line has to be drawn when the music has little, if anything to offer that'll pique your interest. There are lots of tracks that have little pieces in them that may perk your ears at the start, but don't follow through with the new ideas: 'Fences' has sweet strings in its intro, but are replaced by guitars until the bridge, which sounds weak in comparison to the bustling guitars that formed the verses and choruses, 'Call Come Running' has synths in the intro that just don't sound right in the context of a song that's otherwise pretty good, if not for the odd dissonance, and 'I'll Find A Way To Make It What You Want', the album's closing track, with potential to be one of the album's best with its engrossing intro and massive ending, is ruined by the awful drumming at the end. It has no rhythm to it, it's just a "hit things on each beat until its over" deal.

There are some good tracks on the album yet. 'I Felt It Too' is a very sweet song, not plagued by brickwalled guitars (seriously, this album is loud and clips horrifically) and the monotonous vocals. Instead, it's a clean track that builds into a big epic moment that ends right before it climaxes in just the right way. It's as if the emotions of the song are about to spill over and let loose, but it's held back by remembering the message of the song. 'We Don't Go In There' is a song that begins on a peaceful acoustic guitar before evolving into a powerful, anthemic rock track. This is alternative rock done correctly.

Tidal Wave is the band's seventh album, but it sounds like they have a long way to go before they crack the surface of true success. This album has less substance (and even less quality with the horrible mastering) and a heavy commercial influence laced in it. It's simply just boring as a whole. It's good moments are there, but everything else is highly unmemorable. Better luck next time.

Favorite Tracks: We Don't Go In There, I Felt It Too

Least Favorite Tracks: You Can't Look Back, In The Middle Of It All, Holy Water

Rating: 56 / 100

Usher - Hard II Love

Usher is a household name all around the world. He's earned it - his brand of R&B blended with pop has made him a sensation. You know you've made it in pop when you're a coach on The Voice. His eighth album Hard II Love is here, and you'd expect it to show a masterful show of his skills. Sadly, that's not the case.

Hard II Love is far from his magnum opus. If anything, it might be one of the weakest records in his discography. This sprouts from nothing more than the fact that the album is just plain underwhelming. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra says on an interlude following the abrupt ending to opening track 'Need U', "Everybody wants somebody that's got confidence. He should make me feel safe, make me laugh. Everything about him should feel sexy. His walk, his talk. He's gotta be effortless, you know? Not trying too hard." Unfortunately for Usher, he is literally the opposite of that.

It doesn't help that he puts on a bad-boy attitude immediately after that little conversation piece. You'd think something a little more sincere than "Everybody wants somebody that's got confidence. It's in her attitude, the way she walks, nice legs. She's gotta be beautiful. Nice thin waist, fat ass. Oh, and those soft little lips." That's exactly how the following track 'Missin U' begins, and the writing isn't any better than the start. The instrumental has some edge to it, which is good, but the writing is so blatantly uncreative and overly self-confident that it's just annoying to listen to.

These bad-boy attempts don't stop there. He's trying so desperately hard to be Drake on a lot of tracks. He even got Future on this album (on 'Rivals', which really isn't too bad). 'No Limit' sounds like a satire, though it's regrettably a very serious track. Instead of Future he has Young Thug on this song, and he's okay. It's encouraging to see Usher's hip-hop roots come back, but this isn't exactly the way for that to happen. He channels the most annoying sides of himself in the thick of the album; 'FWM' is just plain obnoxious (we've heard this song in about 300 different ways in the past). Just when you think his attitude could get worse, he drops the line "All I think about is bitches" in the most hilariously retrospective way he could've possibly delivered that line. Instead of saying something meaningful, he just revealed his own dickishness in one line.

There really isn't much to praise on this album. There are some sweet moments, some okay moments, but everything's swallowed in a storm of bad moments. 'Downtime' is the one song that's wholly enjoyable, its sweet vibes and ending harmonies making something beautiful that gives the song a surreal feeling. The background vocals of the chorus are lo-fi add a lot of dimension to the atmospheric piano, the great chorus leading into a brilliant set of vocal harmonies that make way for a hip-hop influenced second verse. The song ends with that beautiful array of harmonies and the pulsing bass synth, ending the song on a blissful note.

That song is the only one that's strong from start to finish. Maybe "strong" isn't the right word... "evocative" is more correct. Lots of the tracks have their good moments, but they all fall short in some way or another. It's hard to find these moments between standard and forgettable tracks like 'Crash'. 'Tell Me' towards the end of the record has a great build up... but that build up happens over the course of eight minutes. It's way too slow of a build up to justify it being eight minutes; its like he didn't understand how to make the song progress in a fashion that he wanted it, so he spread it out for a long time so he could get what he wanted. There's some nice guitar in the title track 'Hard II Love', but again it doesn't amount to anything. The album's ending is perhaps the most anti-climactic song of all; 'Champions', the album's lead up single, closes it out, and the potentially great and chilled experiment becomes the worst possible ending this already boring album could have.

Usher is the R&B king. That begs the question: what happened here? Why is Hard II Love so... hard to love? Usher got too cocky. It's not right to assume his personality, or anyone's, for that matter, but he builds his own image of himself on this record, and it's not kind. It's trite and downright boring. Usher may be losing his crown soon.

Favorite Track: Downtime

Least Favorite Tracks: Mind Of A Man, FWM, Champions, Need U

Rating: 42 / 100 

Psychic Twin - Strange Diary

Everyone loves channeling the 80s in electronica nowadays. There's something in that warm nostalgia that really brings something out of its listener. However, there's a fine line between a sweet nostalgia and just boring and unoriginal. That's the trap Psychic Twin falls into on their debut record, which beams with hope but doesn't amount to much.

The duo currently consists of vocalist Erin Fein and drummer Rosana Caban, a strong pair, but this lineup wasn't achieved without lots of error. Their debut Strange Diary was a long work in progress - written when Fein was in the process of divorce. Written on the group's Facebook page is an introduction of sorts to the record, which states: "In dreams, we rarely know what we are running from or toward. We only know we must keep running, continue searching... Strange Diary lives in that state of surreal urgency. What’s in front of us or behind us can’t be described, but we are sure in our bones that what we are searching for exists just a few steps away. "

Fein reprimands - and sometimes begs for - an anonymous "you" in plenty of songs, and while it's not certain who it's about, it seems to point in the direction of a lover whom she was with or desires to find. This is most evident in 'Strangers', a song released in 2013 as a single that has found its home at the beginning of the record.

There's a surreal urgency, as they put it, in this album, and it's clearest in that song, with the spiraling synth arpeggios providing a pulsating flow. It's lyrics croon to the mysterious "you", the chorus explaining, "I know the way that I lie awake for hours / And you don't even know the night is all I have / But even when we build these mighty towers / I know that we can take them down again." "You" is the force that's keeping her up.

The sad thing is, this album essentially lives off of that sentiment. There's not much to discuss as far as song meanings go - it's all just the standard songs of love and desire, without any memorable lines or melodies to justify them. The middle chunk of the record is boring as a whole, from the wobbly synths of 'Stop In Time' to the lackluster 'Hopeless', there really isn't much to stick around for. It's a collection of dream pop songs with occasional sweet synths but no punches.

Psychic Twin seems to have been driven too much by their heartbreak to be focussed on anything else but that. Breakup albums are always good, but those have some emotional punch to them. Strange Diary is very monotonous and overall just boring. There's not much more to say about it. If you like minimal dream pop above love songs with lo-fi vocals, this'll be a great album for you. If you're looking for something unique and memorable, you may want to keep searching.

Favorite Track: Strangers

Least Favorite Tracks: Unlock Yr Heart, Stop In Time Hopeless, Stop In Time

Rating: 57 / 100

July Talk - Touch

Without blues, there would not be rock today as we know it. There are plenty of bands who combine the roots of rock with their modern flair - Alabama Shakes being a prime example. What's rarer to see than a blues rock band is a rock band with a tenor singer singing in that raspy blues and jazz tone that was the signature of Louis Armstrong.

That rare, if not unique combination can be found in Canadian rock n' roll outfit July Talk. They've just released their sophomore album Touch, and it begs the question as to why this band doesn't get more attention. Their sound is something truly special.

Going into Touch, you don't expect to her that raspy tenor powerfully leading the tracks. The beautiful thing about July Talk is their seamless combination of blues and rock. Kicking off with the groovy 'Picturing Love', the intro number really sets the pace for a rocking record. It starts in an understated manner, a strong drum beat followed by some keys. Suddenly, the magic of Peter Dreimanis' vocals kick in and you know something brilliant is ahead. Dreimanis' voice is powerful and bassy, yet is contrasted by the sweet and strong voice of Leah Fay throughout the record, providing for lots of color. The relationship between the two vocalists' voices becomes clearer in 'Beck + Call' where the two come together in a stunning manner.

Even though it's so easy to get lost in the voices, the instrumentals cannot be ignored. The aforementioned 'Beck + Call' is pure rock n' roll with its big guitars. Some songs exhibit a punkier attitude, such as 'So Sorry' towards the end of the record, booming with Leah Fay's challenging tone and the wild guitars. It's bridge is something else - the instrumental comes to a halt as Fay and Dreimanis sing under a palm muted guitar as the song builds back up to a giant explosion. 'Lola + Joseph' also has an absolutely immense instrumental, the brass section just as influential as its guitars. The deep brass really accent each chord with a definitive presence that you can't be indifferent to. It's so good. Softer moments are also present on the record - the pianos and smooth bass lead to dreamy strings and synths in 'Strange Habits' giving it a chilled back and ethereal vibe while still remaining memorable.

The best part of this album is definitely its vocals, but everything works together in a very amazing way. It's as if each element of the song is the support for another, in a form of musical symbiosis. The vocals are just like guitars, the higher register held onto by Fay while Dreimanis handles the low-end. The lyrics are something else, too. Single 'Push + Pull' expresses the duality of a volatile relationship, the chorus ethereally stating, "We're used to the night that leaves us unstable / We're used to the night, we take more than we're able / We're used to the night or whatever's on the table." There's also 'Jesus Said So', which is a huge bashing of modern culture. Through slamming words such as "White babies cry / On reality TV / Plastic surgery disaster / Inherit obesity" and the provocative imagery of "
The cops put men in cars / Drove them out into the snow / Find women's bodies in the rivers / But nobody seems to know", it really leaves a lot to wonder about.

The final track, the eponymous 'Touch' is a brilliant conclusion to the album. It's not an upfront track like a lot of the other big tracks were, but it instead builds into one wallowing crescendo of moody noise. The bluesy piano licks that repeat themselves from start to finish back the harmonies between Dreimanis and Fay, while the drums slowly build into the song's climax, bringing a thousand voices together for one big closure.

Touch is an album you can't really understand until you see it through. All you can tell is that it's something unique and strong. July Talk is only on their second album but sound like they've been together for decades, their sound so crisp and knowing. It's a musical astonishment. This band deserves more attention than their reputation for crazy live shows has garnered. They deserve worldwide fame

Favorite Tracks: Beck + Call, Lola + Joseph, Touch, Picturing Love

Least Favorite Track: Johnny + Mary

Rating: 86 / 100

Twin Atlantic - GLA

Part of your home will always be inside you. The environment of where you were raised built you. Your idea of home is what it taught you. Music tends to shape the culture of many places across the world. Twin Atlantic hoped to thank their home of Glasgow, Scotland in their newest album, GLA.

GLA is Twin Atlantic's fourth record, so their sound has been honed and it's very clear that they know how to own it. Right off the bat, you're thrown into 'Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator' with it slamming beat and big guitars. Sam McTrusty's vocals aren't perfect, but they're just the right amount of imperfect that it adds that punk flair to the track without it being able to be brushed off as lazy or unprofessional. The bridge builds up epically, McTrusty's vocals and a thick bassline being the only sound as the elements of the song come back together for one big explosion to the end the track.

There's just the right amount of punk on this record to give it that extra punch as a whole. Huge, crunchy riffs dominate a lot of the tracks on the album. 'No Sleep' has a big riff that brings the chorus together into a big rock uproar. Crunchy guitars are the signature of 'You Are The Devil', as well. 'I Am Alive' has choruses with soaring vocals above massive bassy riffs, the groovy track climaxing with that huge riff that reprises itself throughout. An anthemic presence can be found in 'Overthinking' within its big choruses, as well as in 'The Chaser' and its epic guitar solo. The latter of two has a very big call-to-arms vibe in it, showing that the energy doesn't falter at any point of the record - it's incredibly consistent.

The softer moments of the record are just as brilliant as its most upfront moments. The acoustic 'A Scar To Hide' is the only track with a fully stripped-down instrumental. It's just an acoustic guitar, McTrusty's vocals, and an absolutely gorgeous orchestra backing it. There's not many songs that utilize strings on this record, which really is a shame considering how beautifully they implemented them in. 

The last song on the album isn't acoustic but it isn't the most upfront. 'Mother Tongue' uses just a crunchy guitar and eventually the beautiful orchestras of 'Scar'. It's an ode to Scotland, McTrusty singing about how powerful the band's bond is with their home country. Its lyrics are some of the most powerful on the record; while most of the album is focusses on pumping you up and building power, 'Mother Tongue' is the song that is the dedication to their home. It becomes powerfully apparent with the chorus, which chants, "I've been lonely / I've been holding out for days / I miss your spirit / I am more than just a name / Our blood runs deeper / Our blood runs soaked in our mistakes."

Twin Atlantic make it very apparent that their home is what shaped who they are. GLA is an album that really captures the sound of Scotland. It's rebellious yet still has a sense of pride throughout it. Its ending number sums it all up with powerful imagery, closing the record on a very personal note. It's up there in all the bests of the band's discography. There's a lot of heart in this record, and that's half of its charm.

Favorite Tracks: The Chaser, Mother Tongue, A Scar To Hide, Overthinking

Least Favorite Tracks: You Are The Devil, Missing Link

Rating: 79 / 100

Grouplove - Big Mess

Everyone needs a good album full of anthems to keep on repeat for a long car ride. Grouplove has delivered their third album Big Mess, and that album definitely fits the criteria. It's full of big moments and honest fun.

Grouplove has churned out indie tunes for years now. Big Mess is their third album, so they're no longer in that range of records with the high pressure on them. By the third album, most bands have found what works for them and can start really being themselves without needing to worry about the implications of their sound. That's very evident in Big Mess.

Right from the start, this album sounds like it has a very good understanding of what it wants accomplish. It opens with the synthy intro of 'Welcome To Your Life' that leads into a light verse with sweet vocals from Hannah Hooper before she trades off with Christian Zucconi who takes over with a country twang to his voice. The chorus explodes with a reckless abandon, and the bridge brings that energy one step further. The song ends bigger than it was at any point, powerchords strumming and vocals sounding high and mighty.

The album has a bit of rebelliousness to it. 'Do You Love Someone' might as well be a pop punk track, and Grouplove pulls off the sound better than most pop punk bands do. Zucconi belts out high and strong above the guitar. The final chorus explodes as Grouplove reaches the most anthemic sound they've pulled off since they started. Gang vocals reign huge in 'Cannonball' which give it an extra edge above the distorted basslines and keyboards, allowing it to sound absolutely giant.

This album isn't all jams and rebellion - there are some great softer moments on the record. 'Standing In The Sun' is a quieter track, beginning with acoustic guitar before building into a bigger feel-good rock track with an awesome guitar solo in the middle. It ends as sweetly as it began, with the rest of the instruments joining in for a peaceful jam to close out. 'Enlighten Me' progresses from a quiet piano intro and evolves into an epic electronic rock banger. The bridge of 'Traumatized' has a great quiet bridge that adds a nice contrast to its rocky interior. The album ends on a sweet track with 'Hollywood', too. It's almost comedic with the droopy trumpets, but takes the album on a light hearted note.

Grouplove has really owned their sound. Big Mess feels free and fresh no matter how many times you listen to it. It's relatable while still sounding upbeat, rebellious, and anthemic. It's more pop punk than most pop punk bands think they are, and that's saying something when this album is equally as indie rock as it can get. Big Mess isn't perfect, but it's a great record all around. There's a charm in that reckless abandon.

Favorite Tracks: Welcome To Your Life, Standing In The Sun, Enlighten Me, Traumatized

Least Favorite Track: Don't Stop Making It Happen

Rating: 74 / 100