Bad JujuBlue Heaven

Nostalgia gets a glow up with Melbourne alt-rockers Bad Juju and their heavily anticipated debut album Blue Heaven.

MORE: TROPHY EYES: “I Realised My Career Was Probably Close To Over If I Didn’t Release Something” REVIEWS: MILITARIE GUN: Life Under The Gun // TROPHY EYES: Suicide and Sunshine // PVRIS: EVERGREEN

First exploding onto the scene back in 2017 with their ‘90s flavoured grunge, Bad Juju have been a band whose name has been increasingly familiar in the heavier musical waters. But it’s in 2023 that the group ascend further into their own increasingly-cemented trademark sound, pairing a super team around their first-ever album and emerging with something memorable and matured.

From the album’s glossy opening title track, Blue Heaven establishes itself as more modern fare than the band’s preceding outings. With sumptuous melodics and a sharpened melancholy, Blue Heaven glistens with sharp, balanced guitarwork, crisp beats and swirling undertones that would feel equally at home on a Big Day Out stage as it would in any stadium in 2023. Up next, the fuzzed-up The Other Side bounces out with elements of industrial-meets-electronica and Ocean Grove-y flits between creamy melodics and emotive rap-adjacent delivery (a fact that may very well owe itself to some stellar production from Ocean Grove’s very own Sam Bassal).

Never fear, the grunge factor hasn’t entirely left the building. Emo anthem Walking Away offers plenty of fuzz and sombre affectations, before Nothing To Give turns into more energetic territory, complete with angsty melodics and heated riffage alongside a sparkling display of harsher vocals from vocalist Russell Holland.

With sumptuous melodics and a sharpened melancholy, Blue Heaven glistens with sharp, balanced guitarwork, crisp beats and swirling undertones that would feel equally at home on a Big Day Out stage as it would in any stadium in 2023

Journeying from wistful charm (Raincoat) to crystalline guitar tones fused with discordant surrounds (Misery Sticks To Me), vigorous alt-rock (Tired Of Running), swaying anthems (House Of Greed) and more raucous fare (Me vs You), Blue Heaven steadily reflects its overarching sentiment, namely the complexities and struggles of life and that reality is not always what it seems. And with plenty of lucid melodic moments throughout, including the heartstring tuggin’, toe tappin’ Dear Mother and the gleefully prowling I Know What You Did, the singalong moments are rife and primed for a live experience. And while much of Blue Heaven leans heavily into the gloom, its closing track The Boulevard revels in lush textures, sentimentality and cathartic charisma that affably closes out proceedings.

While it may be Bad Juju’s first official album release, the Melbourne Halloween Hysteria alumni are already renowned for their ability to wear their hearts on their sleeves, and it’s on Blue Heaven that the group pair vulnerability efficiently beyond their former stylistic comfort zones. Working alongside Bassal and fellow producer Callan Orr to bring Blue Heaven to life, Bad Juju have conjured a bold and developed style that will no doubt continue to strengthen as they venture into this new chapter and beyond. Planet Earth is blue, and there’s nothing we can do, but Bad Juju have sparked some elegant splendour via their debut album.

STANDOUT TRACKS: The Other Side, Nothing To Give, The Boulevard
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Trophy Eyes, Endless Heights, Ocean Grove