I’ll admit, Pop Punk was a genre that I looked at and thought “Sounds good, not my style though”. I always saw pop punk as just another form of pop, much to my mistake. Neck Deep’s music just has so much energy to it that when I first heard one of their songs, I was immediately hooked. I remember singing along to almost every song on “Life’s Not Out to Get You” and further more to the two new singles “Happy Judgement Day” and “Where Do We Go When We Go” which previewed their new album “The Peace and the Panic”. Now that the album is out, and I’ve been rocking it for the past few weeks, and I want to share my thoughts on this new bit of punk from Neck Deep. The opening song “Motion Sickness” is a song that I didn’t pay too much attention to when I first heard it, but it slowly grew on me. From the opening guitar riffs to the energetic lyrics that blend the views of existentialism: “Sat on the kitchen floor, all alone, talking to a ghost about where we go, when we go” with a happier tone of living life: “Oh my friend, Just look how far come and, think twice before you go, and throw, it all, away”. The song is just full of energy and brings a massive smile to my face whenever listen to it. “Happy Judgement Day” is one of the more political songs on the album. It’s a song that discusses the current state of today’s world. It approaches the issues with a characterful sarcasm that suits the song really well, and the lyrics are witty and purposeful, such as my favourite line from the song: “Building walls, and dropping bombs, stop the world, I’m getting off!” The song is one you can admire for its heavy guitars and playful singing, but also for its lyrics and message. “The Grand Delusion” keeps up the energy from the previous track, but instead of being political, The Grand Delusion takes more of a classic punk sound. The song’s thrashing guitars and energetic singing from Ben make for a song that’s fun and memorable. I’m a bit torn up about “Parachute”. It skirts the line between punk and pop in a way that I’m not quite sure works entirely well. Mind you, the song is energetic and fun to listen to, but I can tell if the band wants it to be a pop, or a punk song. The lyrics are light and bouncy like a pop song, but the instruments are heavy and energetic like a punk song. If I had to pick a “low-point” on the album, it would probably be this song, but that being said, Parachute is still a great song, and doesn’t really detract from the rest of the album in any way. My favourite song of this album has to be “In Bloom” it has this amazing beauty to the instruments that I’d never expect from a punk band. The opening of the song, with its soft guitar layered over the distorted vocal sample about the aftermath of a nuclear attack. If you listen closely, you can hear the sample go on about how the atomic bomb is “an awesome technological paradox”, these nuances combined with the meaning behind the lyrics, that of persevering through hard times, and leaving past events behind all for an outcome bigger than oneself, makes In Bloom one of the best songs I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. I even want group it in with songs like “In Between” by Linkin Park, “26” by Paramore, and “Outside In” by Circle of Dust; songs with a certain emotional power behind them, songs that have way more emotion behind the lyrics than would expect, songs that I hold in very high regard for this reason. “Don’t Wait” is by far the heaviest song on The Peace and the Panic, to the point where we even hear some metal-like screaming in the lyrics as well; it also happens to be quite a political song as well. The song is about the systematic corruption and deception perpetrated by the media and modern governments, and how the general populous is supposedly oblivious and ignorant to this corruption. It’s a song that urges the listeners to rise against these actions and to take matters in their own hands. “Critical Mistakes” is apologetically more pop than punk, and that’s ok. The song is light, bouncy, and fun. It’s a song that you just want to sing along to and just enjoy. To the acoustic guitars, the playful riffs, and catchy lyrics, it’s one of those songs that just make you feel good, and make you want to smile when you hear it. “Wish You Were Here” is the calmest song on this album, and provides a nice contrast to the upbeat that fill the album. It’s no December, but it’s a song that’s still filled with emotion. One thing that’s sets this song apart from some of the other “slow” songs by Neck Deep is that although the instrumentals are that of a softer, acoustic song, Ben’s singing sounds like he still has the rest of the band behind him, with raspier signing and strained verses. This makes song seem faster or more energetic than it is, and gives the song a tone that fits quite well with the rest of the songs on the album. “Heavy Lies” is upbeat, fun, yet at the same time heavy song, a real banger, and perhaps one of the catchiest songs on the album in terms of lyrics. The song is giddy, bouncy, yet it still retains Neck Deep’s heaviness and style. One thing I’ve noticed how much more enjoyable the songs on this album, unlike Life’s Not Out to Get You, which had heavier songs with more emotional lyrics to them, this album seems to be more focused around easier listening, the songs on this album sounds like more passion was put into the making of album, and the band had a lot of fun writing the songs, and it really shows in songs like these. “19 Seventy Sumthin’” Is less of a song and more of a story with some electric guitars behind it. It’s a lovely story of the creation of a family. How a boy and girl meet, fall in love, get married, raise a family, until the climax where the (grand)father ultimately (Spoiler Alert!) dies of a heart attack, and the children, in a display of family kinship and compassion, comfort the mother, ending on the lyric “’Cause that’s what family does.” This song hits you in a way you don’t expect. If you end up listening to the song, the end will emotionally hit you, you might even shed a tear or too because of it. It’s such a relatable song that almost anyone can and will make a connection with it, which makes the song that much more powerful and meaningful. The final track on The Peace and the Panic is “Where Do We Go When We Go” It’s a song that deals with the mystery of life after death, but at the same time wanting to live life to the fullest before death happens. I love the opening of the song, and how it’s a play on the popular “Rain, Rain, Go away” rhyme. The song isn’t as climactic as some other album closer’s, but neither was the closer for Life’s Not Out to Get You. Where Do We Go When We Go is still an excellent song, it’s exciting, fun, has excellent song-writing, and makes for a fitting end to the album. The Peace and the Panic is a more lighthearted album than Life’s Not Out to Get You, it’s an album filled with fun songs that you just can’t help but belt out and sing along to, even in its heaviest moments. It’s an album that’s meant to stand on its own, it’s to trying to be an album filled with passion and brimming with emotion, but it’s an album that’s meant to be exciting, rowdy, energetic, and fun, an album that, in my mind, captures the essence of Pop Punk and what make it great.
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About Me:Welcome to my blog! Here you'll find various articles about all sorts of topics. Politics, Music, Video Games, eSports, and many other topics I feel the need to write about. Archives
February 2018
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