2020's "27 Miles Under Water" was a great album as the band took old familiar sounds and made them their own. Their new album is more optimistic. I'm not sure this is the record label wanting them to be more like Turnstile, since no one sells enough records to worry about that much, less compromise your integrity for it. The first song lets you know they are the same band that released "27 Miles Underwater," but there is a pop punk vibe that is coming more into focus. When it comes to "Count the Miles," there is an almost tangible Die Kreuzen influence on the vocals. It took a second listen for it to sink in with me.
The first great song is the more brooding melody of " All the Rage". There is a bit of the anthemic pop punk feel creeping in here, but it's tolerable. "Better" is more of an emo ballad that recalls the days of Myspace. Though a creeping sense of shoegaze sulks around the song. The more explosive hardcore feel of "Two Doors Down' finds the vocals going into a more volatile scream as the chug of guitar follows the emotional current. "Lunar Tuesday' perhaps goes too far down the pop-punk path to sound more like Blink 182 than the Get Up Kids, which is where the line sits for me.
"Kaleidoscope" is a mixed bag of melody, heartbreak, and angst, trying to find its place in the sound. The last two songs finds them beginning to lose their way in introspective. I am all for experimenting and being atmospheric, but "Wide Awake" has little to keep it anchored. They double down on the more Deftones-like ambiance with the sugary glaze of Blink-182 coating it for the last song. Rounding this one down to an 8, it doesn't hit like the first album to me, but they are still the same band, just going for a different vibe If you were into their more emo side, this might still work for you.
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