menzingers hysteria
menzingers hysteria

The Menzingers Hello Exile

Epitaph Records
4 October, 2019
5
Plodding Along

Hello Exile, indeed. American punk rock outfit The Menzingers run the risk of ostracising themselves in their new release.

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No new concepts in The Menzingers sixth studio album, they’re still pretty punk and, just like most other bands of this ilk, pulling on the same old narrative about how messed up the world is and how rough they’ve been feeling–it has been for a while, we get it, and we all feel pretty crappy most of the time, so how about something new to actually make us feel good?

It feels like The Menzingers have written the soundtrack to their own funeral.

Nah, not The Menzingers’ style in this one. Intimate as they are, these don’t present a fresh spin on an old adage, and certainly not living up to the awesome content delivered in 2014’s Rented World and 2017’s After The Party. It feels like The Menzingers have written the soundtrack to their own funeral. But the sincere hope is that you, dear listener, can find something in this release that peaks your interest that means the longevity of the band continues.

Last To Know is pretty dreary, even by punk standards, so maybe skip this one, and as dreary as much of the subject matter is–Strangers Forever, America, Strain Your Memory–they sound very nice. There’s a kind of freshness to the beats of High School Friend, I Can’t Stop Drinking spares no irony and runs with a very boozy country spin, plodding along with the right amount of melancholy.

Ultimately though, there’s an overriding sense of familiarity–The Menzingers have written this album before. But hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Menzingers have compiled an album where they’re using techniques in sound and production that they know works for them and that’s cool and all, but it’s nothing to write home about.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Strangers Forever, Hello Exile, Strawberry Mansion
STICK THIS NEXT TO: The Gaslight Anthem, Iron Chic, Red City Radio


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