The Menzingers :'everything I Ever Saw"

 

The band's 2019 album "Hello Exile" became the high-water mark against which the album that followed would be weighed, as it balanced country-drenched Americana with the band's punk roots in a way that was honest and carved out its own niche. They seemed to be trying to find their way back in that direction on this album. The opening track "Chance Encounters" gives more drive by finding its strum for Greg Barnett's voice to bleat out his emotional croon. This is accented by Tom May's grittier approach.

"Better Angels" might take some time to grow on me, as it does not connect with me in the same manner as the opening track or "Romanticism". There is something about 'Other People's Money" that makes me think this is what it might sound like if the Dropkick Murphys wrote songs for the radio/ "Gasoline and Matches" puts indie rock in the back of it's beat up pick up tuckand takes a drive out into wide-open farmlands, which is the best plae for these guys. The vocals are pretty heartfelt here. "the Fool" just kinda of breezes along with a more casual strum, that crooses over into a late 90s puink feel. I had to listen to it twice before it clicked with me. 

"Nobody's Heroes' taps into their more reliable songwriting magic."Breath With Me" follows this path as well, though is marginally more anthemic as the tempo finds a little more vigor. The synths that ring out going into "When She Enters My Dreams" give things more of an 80s feel. There is a great vocal performance on this one. "Parade Day' might stand out more if they had not already loaded this album down with some high-powered emotional punches that a re more memorable. They turn up the dials a little for the title track and hold some of the punk influence that steers them toward Social Distortion. I will give this album a 9.t as it finds the band recapturing the balance of sounds that works best for them and polishing them more with the production value being even bigger using Turnstile's producer.Out July 7th on Epitaph 

 

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the Top 10 Rock Albums of 2023

Rock music continues to be one of the last vestiges of picking up instruments and playing songs the artist has written.  With metal having a more loyal market, it feels like less straight-up rock music is coming out, but then again it's not something I always look for. There is a very specific feel of moodiness, melody, and underlying mental health issues I seek out from rock music, and these albums touch on varied corners of that sound.  After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2023. The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 Rock albums of 2023.

10-Vulture Industries- "Ghosts From the Past"

This Norwegian band strips away some of the darkness and most of the metal to reach a  middle road with their post-COVID comeback.  This allows them to create the space to establish melodies. There is a slight hint of the Northern European folk history of their homeland creeping into

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/vulture-industries-ghosts-from-past.html

 

9-Iggy Pop-"Every Loser"

At the ripe age of 75 Iggy Pop released his 20th album.  Duff Mckagan helps him out along with enlisting a who's who of rock royalty to collaborate with, featuring members of Jane's Addiction, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam. Pop described this album as geared to beat the shit out of the listener, but employs more of the cool and collected hints of his 80s new wave past. Which still works really well. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/01/iggy-pop-every-loser.html

8-Buckcherry-"VOL 10"

They kick things off with more of a down-home bluesy swagger that they take in more of a party direction that retains the anthemic charm of their previous hits. They have stripped things down to the bare basics, closer to what they did on the first album, with none of the radio aspirations that fueled some albums. Lets fact it those aspirations worked pretty well as there were a couple of songs that did gain a great deal of radio play. Thus making me respect their self-awareness when it comes to where they stand in the bigger picture of the music industry. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/buckcherry-vol10.html

7- Twin Temple -"God is Dead"

This Duo from California returns with their "Satanic" doo-wop. The band claimed their debut album dropped back in 2019 was recorded in a day and a half, live with only two or three takes. If that is the case then this album only took half a day. There is a rawer sound to what unfolds here, though more orchestration, and arrangements that recall Phil Spector's "wall of sound". They are true to the era they are paying homage to, The way they nailed the sound this time with the lo-fi production that still allows the vocals to stand out, takes the sting out of the lyrics, as this could fit on a Sirrus radio oldies station and almost go unnoticed. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-twin-temple-god-is-dead.html

6-Alice Cooper-"Road"

The 29th album from this legend finds the Coop keeping it real and recording this one live in the studio with his touring band. Done with minimal overdubs, Alice sounds great and the opening track  "I'm Alice" makes it clear at 75, his voice remains where he needs it to be. The songs wink heavily at his classic sound from the 70s, sometimes almost recycling the riffs.  Often lyrically self-indulgent abragging about how great his band is live.  If this was done by anyone else it would not work as well. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/08/alice-cooper-road.html

 

5-Tigercub- "The Perfume of Decay"

This trio from England plays a glammed-out style of rock that feels like a darker, more androgynous take on what Muse does. This is displayed on the title track opens the album. A trickle of angle guitar cascades of the groove, as the vocals coo over it all. They work more of tense groove rather than feeling the need to glitter-bomb everything with grandiose choruses. The choruses are highly melodic and hooky enough to draw you in. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/06/tigercub-perfume-of-decay.html

4-LA Guns -"Black Diamonds"

As long as both Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns are on board then I am fine with LA Guns. This album finds them continuing to kick ass while their arena-packing peers are fat floundering fools. If these guys can still do it with dignity then we should be expecting the same from the Motley Crues of the world. They open this album with a more Zeppelin-like groove. At 66 Phil Lewis sounds incredible. They stay true to the era they are from, while not sounding dated. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/04/la-guns-black-diamonds.html

3-The Menzingers-"Some of it Was True"

They set the bar really high for themselves on "Hello Exile", its country leanings carried a convincing twang. This time the slick production has toned down some of the edges with these punk bar anthems. Lyrically it retains the charm of albums past.  They reach a new level of songwriting with tons of conviction poured into the voice of Greg Barnett, which has both the quiver of nervous vibrato and the more punk snarl to punch out the songs' accents.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-menzingers-some-of-it-was-true.html

2-Rolling Stones -"Hackney Diamonds"

This is the Stones's 26th album. They are arguably the greatest rock band ever.  However, this legacy gets threatened with every album they decide to drag their career out with. Keith is having to adapt his playing around his arthritis. Richards is 79, and Jagger is 80. Supplemented by producer Andrew Watt, who helped write three songs. The Jagger / Richards songwriting machine keeps rolling. Don Was who makes more sense for the band than the pop producer Watt, who has also worked with Iggy Pop and Ozzy. Jagger sounds more youthful than any other 80-year-old could ever dream. I guess that deal with the Devil he made worked out wonderfully. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-rolling-stones-hackney-diamonds.html

1-Queens of the Stoneage - "In New Times Roman..."

This album has a weird vibe that takes multiple listens to wrap your ears around. At casual listen all the key elements are in place, though perhaps due to the almost too pristine production.  Homme's vocals are in his normal cadence, but the highly compressed guitars have odd effects on them.  Though not a huge departure for the band, it perhaps does not rely on grooves as heavily as "Villains". The tripped-out jams are entertaining. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/06/queens-of-stone-age-in-new-times-roman.html

The Menzingers : "Some of It Was True"

They set the bar really high for themselves on "Hello Exile", its country leanings carried a convincing twang. It was one of those albums I really wore out. The strummed intro to the first song is deceptive as the song builds into a punk bar anthem once the drums kick in and the pace picks up. Lyrically it retains the charm of albums past.  They reach a new level of songwriting with tons of conviction poured into the voice of Greg Barnett, which has both the quiver of nervous vibrato and the more punk snarl to punch out the songs accents. The vocal lines for "Nobody Stays" are brighter creating more emphasis on an almost pop punk sound. It took a few listens to grow on me. 

They go in a more interesting direction on "Some of it Was True". It works off a speculative dynamic that allows the vocal room to muse. Another lyrically sharp gem from these guys. There is twang to the rocking drive of "Try". The song slows into a more melodic dynamic that flows impressively. There is a more accessible current to what they are doing on this album, I mean it's being mix by Jon Low who has a much higher hourly rate having worked on Taylor Swift albums. "Come on Heartache" is so polished it feels more like modern-day Weezer, though it's the country tremble to Barnett's voice that sells me on it. His voice has a unique quality that keeps them from blending in to the other punk influence band bleeding into the mainstream. 

"Ultraviolet" almost has a Bruce Springsteen feel. The guitar are mixed similar to some of the 80s radio hits, so the vocals are the rightful focus. "Take it to Heart" has a dirtier guitar sound, and the song punches in a manner that allows Greg to tense his vocals chords up into more cathartic outbursts. "Love at the End" is more upbeat. The drummer shows restraint and creates a pretty cool groove, though it's kind of sonically middle of the road for what they do . The pop punk undercurrent is present again, making this feel slightly contrived and more like filler when set against the honesty this album has shown at it's heights. "Alone in Dublin" has the rawer more organic rock feel I want from them . The complex nuances of emotions in his vocal phrasing makes this one a winner. 

"High Low"  finds the vocals returning to more of a pop punk place. It's a little more hopeful than I prefer for these guys to sound. The guitars sound great, but perhaps too good. The song could use more rough edges. It weird how songs like "I Didn't Miss You" are allowed to retain the edge giving  these guys heart , where A-List production teams threatens to mix them into something closer to the homogenized masses of the radio. "Runnin" feels like the middle ground between the raw hungry band they were, and the band that is being fine tuned to sit next to the National on Spotify playlists. I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me. Despite the changes in the streamlined commercial production choices, their record company wanted, the band wins the wrestling match more often than not to retain their sense of identity.  

the Top 10 Punk Albums of the Decade

The decade began before this blog was started , I can not just rely on sorting through previous reviews. I am just embedding video clips to support the reasoning for these albums to be listed as such, since I already did a best of the year list for each sub-genre. I broke up what was the punk / harcore list and made them two seperate lists. I am not going for what is the  loudest fastest , but for what has the best songs that are  worth listening to again and again.  Maybe these are not the hippest albums of the decade when it comes to this genre, but what matters more is the fact these are the albums I listened to the most when it came to this sort of thing. ; Any ways here are the Top 10 Punk  albums of the decade.




10- GBH - "Momentum" 2017 











9- Bleached- "Welcome the Worms" 2016



 





8- the Libertines - "Anthems For Doomed Youth" - 2015





 





7- Grave Pleasures- "Motherblood"- 2017 



 





6- Cult of Youth - "s/t " - 2011







 5- Drug Church- "Cheer" -2018



 



4- Iceage- "New Brigade"- 2011



 




3-the Menzingers - "Hello Exile" 2019




 



2- Low Dose- "s/t" 2019






1- Planes Mistaken For Stars - "Prey"- 2016

the Menzingers : " Hello Exile"

Taking me back to where punk came from rock , these guys also carry hints of country similar to old Social Distortion. Their just happens to have a better actual singing  voice than Mike Ness, there is a s a gritty punk edge to his voice, but it's not the constant whiskey sandpaper of Ness'.They make me feel like this is a punk band that is trying to dress up and cross over into indie rock. This is still way more punk rock that no called pop punk. Lyrically this is almost every bit as punk as Bad Religion... well half the time, when it is not a social commentary then the more Replacements side of what they do tend to be more interpersonal. This is further explored on "High School Friend". There is a real organic warmth to the guitars that have more of a jangle than a chug.

"Last to Know" is slowed down punk. That phrase would make you think this is going to be emo. That is not the case. They pick up the tempo on "Strangers Forever" . It's like Americana punk. The chorus is one of the more aggressive moments thus far. These guys are guy incredible song writers and the attention to detail they pour into this is felt every step of the way. There is a more Ryan Adams like strum to the title track.I am not sure if this is as strong as the previous song, perhaps it needs to grow me. This is more due to hope high the bar is that they raised for themselves. "Portland" is more straight forward and rock n roll in how the strum drives the song.

"Strain Your Memory" is more straight forward it is also had a more punk focus to it. The attitude is not bratty middle finger in air, their take on punk is less of a social construct and has more of a working class feel. "I Can't Stop Drinking" is more of a country like ballad. The come back with even more of a punk edge on " Strawberry Mansion" . "London Drugs" is another more meat and potatoes working class rock song. "Farewell Youth" finds the tremble of his voice maintaining the original sound of the band.  I will give this one a 9.5 and see how it grows on me. Not the nastiest punk records in fact it is the most soothing this year.