Don Broco - Everybody (Quick Song Commentary)

In 2015, my ultimate jams for the summer consisted of Panic! At the Disco’s Hallelujah and Don Broco’s Automatic. So to hear this new track by them and feel the same amount of joy as I did back then was surely a refreshing feeling. Everybody has quickly managed to become my new favorite Don Broco song. Which isn’t supposed to shade their past music but more so appreciate the fact that whenever these British guys release new music they manage to overwhelm me enough with their skills and talent to make every new song my next favorite by them. Utterly great tune. 

5 Seconds of Summer - Girls Talk Boys (Quick Song Commentary)

To be fair, I wasn’t very impressed with SGFG so when the guys released their contribution to the Ghostbusters soundtrack, I avoided listening to it for a good amount of time to not be disappointed again. At some point, I got bored enough with the music I already had to dare and give it a go after all. Genuinely, I’m happy that I did. Not to sound rude or unappreciative, but Girls Talk Boys is better than all of SGFG combined, excluding Castaway. To find out that the song wasn’t even originally written by the band themselves but at most in contribution with three other writers, my shoulders slouched again. None the less, the boys did a fantastic job performing and interpreting the song as they did and I’m sure they deliver the same amount of potential during their live performance of it.

Billy Talent - Afraid of Heights (Record Review)

To begin with, I personally hold a whole lot of very positive, and negative, experiences dear to myself connected to this band. So to listen to a new record of the first band I ever properly flew to a different city for is quite a challenge for my musically neutral mind. There were expectations for this record. There certainly were. Not too high. But also not too low. After all, this band shaped me heavily in one way or another. But it still awoke nothing but disappointment in me.

The record starts rather slow with Big Red Gun and it has a hard time to actually build itself up further on. While Ghost Ship outshines its previous two tracks easily, hope dies down rather quickly again as soon as Louder Than The DJ rolls along. Its overplayed theme makes you slouch your shoulders with a tragic sigh, even though there might be live potential for it. 

Definitely the highlight of it all is The Crutch which finally rumbles the atmosphere with its differential take on. While it is still very much Billy Talent, it's a new and exciting side of it. 

Joy isn't around for long. Rabbit Down The Hole swallows it whole and as does the rest of the album till the outro, February Winds, saves at least the end. A personal major letdown is This Is Our War. The title itself promises a rather aggressive, controversial and rebellious vibe. But once the first notes hit, it's nothing but their The Navy Song all over again. 

As much as I love these guys and as much as I wanted this record to be nothing but themselves, it's too much of the same old again. Staying true to yourselves, all good and well. But mix it up a bit next time, boys, please?

Hardcore fans of the band will still dig it. While they will have a bit of a tough time adapting to the music as well, it'll grow on them eventually. If not now, at latest when the live shows hit their towns.

Fave song(s): The Crutch, February Winds

Overall: 5/10

Cheerio xx