Let’s not think about Reel Big Fish as they are now; Aaron Barrett and a rotating cast of pals covering Phil Collins and self-releasing, when they haven’t loaned their brass section to Ice Nine Kills that is. Let’s remember them in the nineties, when they popped up in the movie ‘Baseketball’, with perfect hair and hyperactive dance moves, in that brief, golden few years when ska and ska-punk ruled the charts. It was the era when I, as a teenager, dated the male equivalent of a punk Manic Pixie Dream Girl. We listened to Flogging Molly in his parents’ garden, debated which was the best Bad Religion song endlessly, and wondered if we could write Matt Freeman a letter to ask if he could teach us the bassline to ‘Maxwell Murder’. While that relationship hit the dust when I went to university (and refused to give up bacon sandwiches for him), ‘Turn The Radio Off’ will always hold that kind of idyllic, bright energy of a time when life was more straightforward and skanking at the Cartoon in Croydon at the All-Ages night was the solution to all your problems. 

Part of what makes ‘Turn The Radio Off’ so great is that if it came out now, it’d be slated. Putting a huge banger next to three minutes of noodling around, next to a song which feels weirdly personal about getting dumped, next to a mini Rock Opera (or should that be ska opera?), should be the recipe for a shiny brass disaster. But that’s the point; this is the sound of freedom, of a band throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. ’S.R.’ got reworked into a multi-genre medley at live shows, and ‘Sell Out’ has officially acquired Ska Icon status. The song that’s stuck around the most, however, and assumed the two-tone mantle of the song that represents Reel Big Fish, has to be ‘Beer’. It feels like the sequel to The Offspring’s ‘Self Esteem’; our jaded protagonist has given up on the girl he’s been making dessert for and has decided to find the solution to his crush at the bottom of a pint glass. From the taut, dark intro through to the self-destructive, stripped back bridge and the disturbingly upbeat ‘woo-hoo-hoo’, this is the blueprint for the sugar-coated misery which is the trademark of this era of Ska-punk. The worst part is how relatable it is. Sometimes, to paraphrase ‘How I Met Your Mother’, you just need to be a ‘Woo Girl’, and this song captures that rollercoaster of needing to party out your self-loathing for just a few minutes. ‘Sell Out’ does this too, and it does it so incredibly well. As if someone’s only two paths in life were working fast food or signing a major label deal…but that doesn’t matter. That’s how it would have felt in that moment to someone considering making a life changing career decision, and these very specific young adult experiences are what Reel Big Fish bring to life musically. 

Ska-Punk historians will probably agree that 2002’s ‘Cheer Up!’ is a far better album, spawning the very petty ‘Ban The Tube Top’ and arguably a better loser anthem in the form of ‘Where Have You Been?’, but that came when as one last magnificent Ska swan song, just as the boom was finishing. ‘Turn The Radio Off’ was still experimental, and feels like a band grappling with suddenly being flavour of the moment. Each song is an individual, and there’s no reliance on eighties covers to jazz up their set. We feel like Reel Big Fish are our sarcastic, sometimes inappropriate, but charismatic friends by the end of ‘Turn The Radio Off’… maybe friends we’ve lost touch with, or friends we should call more often, but friends all the same, who were there with us in our formative years and still have a whole lot to offer. 

KATE ALLVEY

Wednesday

If you’ve set up your camp and grabbed a bite of lunch, then head over to the Yohkai tent to catch Brighton quartet Chalk Hands. With elements of math-rock, screamo and post-hardcore, they’re a great example of the brilliant mishmash of intensity, subtlety and musicality that exemplifies the festival as a whole.

It’s likely that virtually everyone on site on Wednesday will gather to witness Svalbard’s last ever festival performance. Firm favourites in the underground metal scene for more than a decade, they announced in May last year that 2026 would be their final year as a band. Svalbard are known for bringing passion and emotion to their own brand of atmospheric post-rock tinged metal. With their hometown of Bristol just down the road, this farewell set is sure to be an emotional one.

It’s worth heading straight over to the PX3 stage for Brazilian folk prog metal outfit Papangu. Mixing guitars, bass, drums, vocals, flute, keys, synth and potentially even a rubber chicken, they’re a mesmerising fusion of psych rock, prog, jazz and metal with a distinctly South American flare. You’ll never quite know what’s coming next with this band but it’s sure to be entertaining.

Back at the Yohkai stage are Cardiacs; one of the most talked about additions to the ArcTanGent lineup this year. Joined by Mike Vennart (Oceanzise, Empire State Bastard, Biffy Clyro) after the death of founding vocalist Tim Smith, the band have a developed a cult following from fans young and old. They will likely focus mainly on material from 2025’s album ‘LSD’, but with a catalogue dating back to the eighties, their set is sure to be packed full of avant-garde punk and eccentric prog rock.

Thursday

ActTanGent is the kind of festival where it’s always worth dragging yourself out of your tent to catch the earlier bands. If you’re feeling fresh on Thursday morning, then get yourself down to the main stage where IAN are opening. Don’t let the cello fool you into a false sense of security though, the dulcet strings morph into huge riffs and crashing symbols. Get down the front and breathe it all in. If you didn’t quite make it to the Arena first thing, then head to Terminals on the Bixler Stage. The Birmingham trio will wake you up with gloriously heavy, growling basslines and melodic, soaring vocals.

For a brutal lunchtime assault on the ears, head to the PX3 Stage, where Dublin trio Bucket will no doubt be mixing electronic beats over distorted screams and turning everything up to eleven. Ronker will also be doing their best to blast the roof off the Yohkai stage straight afterwards. The Belgian noise rockers always bring ferocious energy to their live shows, their fast-paced rhythmic charge and guttural screams riling up the crowd. If far less aggressive American pop-punk is more your thing, be sure to catch Michael Cera Palin on the Bixler stage a bit later in the afternoon. The subject matter of their songs can be heavy, but their sound is at the much lighter end of the spectrum, with warm guitar tones and upbeat rhythms. As the sun sets, head over to Yohkai for Manchester jazz punk quartet Maruja. Expect to be kept on your toes with tempo changes galore, and fervent vocals that make way for saxophone sections that move from frenetic to poignant and back again in a heartbeat.

Friday

If you’re an early bird who wakes up and chooses violence, you might enjoy being screamed at by Worn Out on PX3 to get Friday started with a bang. For something far more gentle, head over to Bixler and let the dreamy shoegaze melodies of Wildernesses carry you into the day. Once you’ve had your post-rock fix from the likes of Civil Service and Barrens, you must catch the final ever appearance of Heck on the Yohkai stage. For a band with only one album, who broke up in 2017 and reappeared briefly in 2022 for a couple of shows, their fanbase is as dedicated and devoted as they come. They’ve promised that this ArcTanGent appearance really will be their last, so prepare for them to go out all guns blazing in a raucous, ridiculous farewell.

If you’ve got any energy straight afterwards, take a wander over to the main stage for another band who have returned from hiatus; Arcane Roots. Much less erratic than Heck, and fresh from two sets at sister festival 2000 Trees, expect a tight performance packed with powerful, emotive vocals and raging riffs. Later on in the evening, head back to PX3 for the doomy, grungy, punky sounds of Manchester quartet Witch Fever. Think heavy basslines, driving beats and pure fury.

Saturday

If you make it into the arena before noon on the final day, then check out the mildly unnerving but highly infectious Erotic Secrets of Pompeii on the Bixler stage. Self-described as “apocalyptic lounge music”, the local band are a melting pot of theatrics, experimental rock and a touch of the bizarre. For your wistful but simultaneously heavy post-rock needs, Din of Celestial Birds will take you on a sonic journey over on the Yohkai stage. Following yesterday’s theme of bands making a comeback, Oathbreaker return to the UK after nearly ten years and are sure to captivate the main stage crowd with their crushing blend of blackened post-metal.

If you need some light relief after the emotional onslaught that’s inevitable from an Oathbreaker set, head over to Yohkai for the ever-charismatic Jamie Lenman. There will likely be plenty of chat in between songs, which themselves may well jump between genres from alt rock to folk, with influences from heavier rock, jazz and emo. For a contrast to so much wordiness, Danish instrumentalists Town Portal return to ArcTanGent on the PX3 stage with polyrhythms and big math-rock riffs aplenty. After you’ve finished watching Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas perform ‘Mariner’ in full, you should make sure you’ve got your headphones ready for Battlesnake on the silent disco. A delightfully silly way to finish a delightfully varied few days of music. Trust us.

The title track opens the album in spectacular fashion as flickering guitar melodies are propelled along by energetic drums and a pulsating bass line, with the whole track feeling like it’s about to leave the runway and soar high above the clouds in a vast expanse of blue. It’s simultaneously life-affirming and bittersweet, the feeling of leaving something behind as you venture into uncharted territories. ‘Marmoris’ follows in similar fashion, with the graceful guitar melodies of chief songwriter Andie Gill and fellow six stringers Tom Hazelhurst and Chris Core intertwining to mesmerising effect. It’s hard to avoid the flying metaphors with an album called ‘Takeoffs & Landings”, but the songs here are filled with such soaring movement and wonder that the feeling of propelling motion is ever present. Indeed, in the album’s quieter passages, there is a sense that even when time appears to stand still, life subtly moves ever forward, like on the spacious and stirring ‘From This Summit We Can See The Heavens’, which conjures a twinkling tapestry as enormous as a starlit sky. Likewise, the epic grandeur of ‘You Are My Temple’ manages to sound both tender and colossal as subdued passages give way to galaxy-sized melodies and riffs that pack serious heft.

Elsewhere the breathtaking beauty of the second half of ‘When Suddenly…” is the most heartrending music the band have penned thus far, as plaintive pianos give way to charging drums, melancholic synths and an epic choral-like zenith that carries the listener up into the warm glow of the heavens. The affecting ‘I Hope That Road Leads You Somewhere Beautiful, Somewhere You Belong’ is another highlight. It’s a deeply personal track, penned following the tragic death of Gill’s partner Roisin in early 2025 during a time of intense grief. The song is also a beacon of light, a memorial of sorts and a reminder that those we lose shine on in the light they leave behind. The shimmering guitar melodies are heartbreakingly delicate, buoyed by sensitive synths and delicate drum patterns, adding to the track’s fragile, beguiling nature.

Huge credit goes also to producer Joe Clayton, who manages to capture the band’s full splendour in dazzling aural technicolour. The band themselves have admitted to wanting a richer sound for this album, to make use of the possibilities that the studio can provide, with synths and double tracked guitars creating a more intricate sound than we’ve heard from them before. This also is what lends the music its more cinematic feel, with Clayton making even the smallest detail visible within the radiant panorama. With ‘Takeoffs & Landings’, Din Of Celestial Birds has documented the adventures and personal odysseys that they’ve traversed over the past few years, and have entrusted us to accompany them too. But more generously, with these mesmerising songs, they’ve provided a soundtrack we can apply to our own lives; music that we can take into our hearts, to be a source of comfort in our own journeys too. 

ADAM FIRTH

Let’s re-tread the familiar ground first. ‘RATATATA’, their collaboration with BABYMETAL, is a massive jam, and while teaming the cute vocals from the fearless warriors of the Fox God with a gruffer male singer isn’t exactly revolutionary, it always works. Teaming two bands with a high octane performance style together is a tried and tested winner. There’s also ‘Let The Good Times Roll’, which brings in The Offspring for inspiration. ‘Elevator Operator’ is practically a staple at this point, and their techno charged love letter to romantic assignations in lifts is obviously a huge banger. Fan favourite ‘Still Waiting’, their Sum 41 cover, is always a joy no matter how many times we’ve heard it, and it doesn’t suffer when it’s taken away from the stage. Regulars on their Tanzneid World Tour, ‘Revery’ brings the spookiness and is probably the most conventional of the new crop of tracks, and ‘Hypercharged’ is guaranteed pit fuel. So far, so fantastic, but not exactly anything we didn’t know or love already.

However, much like a sudden costume change or switching to Schlager music for a few minutes mid-set, there’s always something up Electric Callboy’s sequinned sleeves. Six songs on ‘Tanzneid’ were veiled in secrecy online on the run-up to release, and of those, one is a live favourite awarded a studio recording for the first time. We are, of course, referring to anti-romance song ‘The Way You Are’, which glitches between Boyzone-like sweetness and demonic howling, as if you were dating a horror movie villain with a secret second life as a serial killer. It’s hilarious live, and while the complete 180 in emotion loses some of the joke when you’re listening on headphones, it’s testament to the versatility of the Callboys. 

The real new songs, ‘Heartclub’ and ‘The Saviour’, hearken back to the days when Electric Callboy were, more or less, a regular metal band. Neither plays on the innuendo and whimsy which permeates their last album or their big hits, and both can be summed up as “really good synth metal tracks.” All of Callboy’s humour would fall flat if they weren’t also absolutely stunning musicians to back up their silliness, and adding two straight tracks serves as a timely reminder that they are more than just the gimmicks. ‘Heartclub’ shreds with cult-leader sinister growling and a vital energy, and ‘The Saviour’ is a future anthem in the making, combining everything we love about the band with riffs for days, a shout-able chorus, unrelenting positivity and a healthy topping of Euro-pop. If they show up with a video for this one in which they dress as eighties Jesus, don’t be surprised. 

Before accusations of not being able to count to six fly, there is another surprise. Or, to be more accurate: not really a surprise at all, if you’re a Callboy fan. The final four tracks are a takeover by their DJ alter-egos, Electric Bassboy, in the form of a set of dance remixes. It’s too easy to say they’re trashy when, if we’re being real, we’ll all be shouting along to these when they’re dropped at a club night. It feels like adding these at the end was the final ingredient in this live show sampler because there’s no way they’d be able to recreate the concert experience without a chance for a cheesy rave. 

‘Tanzneid’ is, without a doubt, the most quintessentially Electric Callboy album to date: a version of their live shows that you can put in your pocket, packed with all the fun and skill that we’d expect from our favourite Germans. It’s a statement about where they’re at and what they’ve got to offer with their bananas live sets, and will leave no one in doubt of how ridiculously awesome they are.

KATE ALLVEY

In many ways writing letters seems at odds with circle pits, sticky floors and sweat-stained air but then Initiate aren’t your typical hardcore band. Their 2023 album ‘Cerebral Circus’ proved they had something to say while operating inside the genre’s confines. In 2025 they released the single ‘Too Much’. It was a promise, a note. It suggested a different direction, post-metal, but it was a sealed envelope. This EP takes a step back, revisiting the sounds and ideas the album was built around and tightens the screws. It’s signed with a kiss.

‘Burn After Reading’ is a passionate love letter written to hardcore. With a punchy introduction, and a rapid d-beat from drummer John Hodge, it feels like a classic, but with the tone established, it shifts into something quite different. The riffs change, the feel changes – it’s like using a new font within the same paragraph, but it works. This is, of course, because its secret is this; the guitarists Draven Carter and Manning Gray provide the melodies while Crystal Park barks over the top. This retains the vicious, slightly rabid feel of hardcore while giving the song personality and nuance. It’s a brilliant trick, and one they use throughout the EP.

While Park flirted with clean vocals on ‘Cerebral Circus’, here they’re consigned to a little atmosphere in the background of ‘Future Saving Grace‘. Her singing voice pales in comparison to her arresting, nuanced screams. It makes for a great choice, especially as the guitarists have melody covered, with the clearest example being the repeating lines on ‘Shadowboxing’ intertwining like a snake.

Zach Tuch has his producer’s fingerprints all over the record. It’s pleasingly raw and retains all the little smudges that give it personality – for example, making the pick slides and feedback on ‘Delusions’ into part of the song’s character. It also gives bassist Michael Morles’s work space to stand out amongst the playful lead guitar.

The EP’s greatest strength is the writing. The songs work so well because the music is built as a series of interlinked sections, paragraphs if you prefer, which create structure amongst the powerful riffs. This is why the false intro to ‘Numb The Pain’ feels earned, and why the strange timing and odd, lumbering meter makes ‘Shadowboxing’ a heavyweight. On ‘Future Saving Grace’, it feels like they’re peeling back through layers until they expose the song’s beating heart, a clicking drum track and beautiful piano motif. It’s a great note to end on.

‘With Love // With Rage’ is a love letter. It’s intimate, passionate and will leave you hot under the collar.

IAN KENWORTHY

]]> https://www.punktastic.com/album-reviews/cancer-bats-give-me-dirt/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 11:30:21 +0000 https://www.punktastic.com/?post_type=album-reviews&p=241448 What do you do after seven albums as Canada’s hardest band? Take a break of course, and after two decades of head-banging, Cancer Bats surely deserved their time off. ‘Give Me Dirt’, their latest album, is supposedly inspired by nature and travel, but that’s like saying ‘Blood Meridian’ is a book about cowboys. Yes, it technically is, but with the harshest, most unrelenting nightmare-adrenaline poured on top so that the summary doesn’t even seem to encompass half of what really happens. The side of nature that vocalist and lyricist Liam Cormier channels into ‘Give Me Dirt’ is red in tooth and claw, monumental and awe-inspiring, and mostly a loose ribbon to tie together Cancer Bats’ most ambitious album to date.

We knew what was coming, as ‘Stay Stuck’, last year’s single drop, feels like an avalanche in itself, a song for seizing the day and letting the pit take you wherever it wants to. ‘Don’t Trip’ contains the same rush: the sensation of your muscles tensing, ready for fight-or-flight to kick in. That’s what Cancer Bats do so incredibly well, and they’ve turned that quality up to the maximum on ‘Give Me Dirt’. Just take the title track, for instance. Clanging shifts into stripped down riffs into chanted ferocity and a sensation of being dared to respond like we’re each being personally challenged to go harder. It’s a magnificent four-minutes, and having a clear vision of what Cancer Bats wanted to accomplish helps us see through the fuzz of distortion and out the other side. 

While we’re here for Cancer Bats, we’re loving that they’ve brought their friends along for the party. Nate Newton of Converge joins the gang for the blistering opener ‘World Wild Fire Death Race’. It’s a song of devastation and surviving by the skin of your teeth, stacked with endless guitar laid down at a breakneck pace. ‘Bright Eyes Of Gold’ sees Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners digging in for a song of resistance against all forms of oppression, and Brooklyn Doran steps away from her usual queer indie scene to lend her vocals to ‘Long Tooth’, a song that swerves between desolate beauty and near-painful ferocity. If you’ve been wondering what Efrem Schulz of Manic Hispanic and Death By Stereo has been up to recently, now you know: he’s been adding a layer of solidarity via vocal cameos. ‘Fools Like You’, the track where Schulz take the lead, drags the punk end of the Cancer Bats sound to the forefront, and it’s just as incendiary as you might imagine. 

While the special guests make all these tracks, well, special, the real surprise on ‘Give Me Dirt’ is ‘Ocean Crash’. It’s a narrative of a journey to destruction, with an unexpectedly clear vocal from Cormier and a slow, pulsing bass that feels like it could be a movie on it’s own in the right hands. The way that Cancer Bats can make a song feel like the end of the world is inevitable is masterful, and shows how far they’ve evolved. Search beneath the fuzz and fury and you’ll find that this is a deeply personal record that comes from the heart via the strong core muscles needed to headbang and scream through it. “I’d rather be a dreamer than dying inside,” yells Cormier on ‘Positive Grid’, and his sense of ambition and resolution is what makes ‘Give Me Dirt’ such an exciting record. This is a new step for Cancer Bats towards a destination that has yet to be revealed, but wherever it is, we’ll have a damn good time reaching it with them. 

Kate Allvey

Back in 2013 Citizen found themselves as part of an emo revival, not stadium emo, but the kind of emotional music driven by downbeat, personal songs. Their debut ‘Youth’ sold itself along the same lines as Brand New, but on each subsequent album the sound evolved in fascinating ways. However 2023’s understated ‘Calling The Dogs’ found them drifting toward the middle of the road. It sounded good, the songs were strong, it contained the rock solid quality you’d expect, but something felt missing. This is different.

The album’s title ‘Halcyon Blues’ implies it’s about the sadness of peace and calm. This is true, yet songs like ‘Good Fortune’ and ‘Highs and Lows’ crackle with rediscovered magic. In fact, all the songs do. A sense of mischief is woven through the track list, counterbalancing Matt Kerekes’ downbeat singing with a refreshed overall tone. It’s a shift that makes the whole band feel completely rejuvenated, a puzzle where every single piece slots into place.

Most strikingly the record has an incredible sound. It’s not the devil in the details, it’s the wizardry. Although the album was recorded by Kerekes it’s a combination of the sound mix by Tom Lorde-Alge that makes such a massive difference. Their previous records sound good, but this has so much presence and so much atmosphere they pale in comparison. Each instrument has its own space and every detail is picked out so beautifully can hear what it’s contributing to the song. Imagine a sunflower, or an eclipse, with a big, bold surface in the centre surrounded by a shimmering halo, that’s what the sound is like. It’s so striking it instils a slight sense of panic; but no, not all records sound this good. This is a work of art.

Due to the stunning production sound, and perhaps more than their previous records, this feels like a band effort. Everyone makes a defined and important contribution to the whole. As with 2021’s ‘Life In Your Glass World’ Ben Russin’s drums are a highlight. His playing style favours speedy snare hits, pushing the sound in a mechanical dance machine, a similar direction of the Strokes’ ‘Room On Fire’. It’s also notable how he uses rapid hi-hat taps, especially how it gives ‘Is It In My Brain’ a rustling, uncomfortable edge, neatly suiting the song’s subject matter. However, it’s the recording and sound mix really make it. The pleasing th-ub and snap have a delightful natural depth while the stunning floor tom sound on ‘Anne’ needs to be heard to be believed. When taken alongside the slightly distorted fizz of Eric Hamm’s bass it creates an intoxicating backbone that gives the band’s two guitarists room to express themselves. Throughout the album Nick Hamm and Mason Mercer interweave striking sounds that give each song character like the back-and-forth tremolo picking on ‘Is It My Brain’ or the effects-drenched attack on ‘I Can See You from Here’ but the smaller details like the soft pitch-shifting on ‘Good Fortune’ or the subtle delay that gives ’Either Way‘ its ghostly echo are just as important, making each feel like a rich and textured tapestry.

Matt Kerekes is a brilliant songwriter. You can hear it in his work with Citizen and also on his solo recordings. However, the thing about making music, the difference between a good record and a great one, is inspiration, there’s plenty of that here. That glimmer of an indefinable something. Each song has it and strikes a neat balance between his tone of voice, melodies and lyrics. Songs like ‘Halcyon Blues’ are built around a softer vocal while he leans into a harder sound and shouty sections on ‘Highs and Lows’. ‘Ether’ even features what passes for a rousing chorus. Although he wraps his voice around downbeat phrases like “Do you feel happy” and “No Good for me,” the tone isn’t gloomy. It’s emotional without a sense of alienation.

During the record’s second half the band explore nosier sounds that hark back to their ‘Youth’ era while retaining this record’s updated edge. In many ways the songs feel pleasingly, and softly, experimental. ‘Highs and Lows’ dips its toes into soft, throbbing electronics to create a sense of atmosphere while ‘Matador’ dives headfirst into a chaotic blend of noise, stop/start structures and electronic tickles that sees the band claim new territory. Helpfully, it’s also great song, and that’s what the trick is, that’s where the magic lies.

Citizen have clicked their fingers. ‘Halcyon Blues’ has so much spark it practically sets fire to their sleeves. The magic is clear; Great songwriting, stunning production and newfound enthusiasm. Sadness rarely sounds so good.

IAN KENWORTHY

Future Palace are a trio, two men and a female singer. It’s a setup similar to bands like Yonaka or Exploring Birdsong, except their music leans more towards metalcore. You might even call it post-metalcore; a mix of weighty riffs and big choruses, like a heavier take on hard-rock.

Manuel Kohlert, the trio’s guitarist, is largely responsible for the music. He favours big, groove-based riffs with occasional synths to add an extra dimension to songs like ‘Deep Blue’ and ‘Tidal Wave’. It’s a strong sound but relatively indistinct. There are plenty of reasons for this; the guitar tones, the synth styles, the sound mix. Basically, if you’ve explored this type of music before, it’ll feel familiar. Importantly though, it all sounds good.

This is the band’s fourth record. Interestingly their 2024 album ‘Distortion’ featured guest vocals from Charlie Rolfe of As Everything Unfolds. The two bands make similar music. It is easy to compare the two, particularly on songs like ‘Ebb And Flow’ and ‘Nixy’ which have a stronger keyboard element and push them into the same vein. The difference between their two sounds is intention. This is less distinct but goes so much harder.

The introduction, ‘Deep Blue’, almost feels like a tease towards the second track, ‘Resurge’, which establishes the record’s overall tone. It has a strong backbone and scratching record sounds that give it an early Papa Roach vibe, but it’s the rhythm that makes it so powerful. Everything, including the screamed vocals, marches at the same pace, making it sound absolutely massive. Once the ball is rolling, the record gains momentum, becoming a series of impressive peaks. Despite the record not feeling particularly distinctive overall, each song is great in its own right and, because the quality is so consistently high, it’s an easy album to listen to. It’s also easy to recommend.

As if to counteract the album’s overly familiar sound, each of the individual songs has its own flavour. A good example is the leading single ‘Supernova’, which deploys a wicked electronic pulsing that might remind you of Aphex Twin or, again, the synths under ‘Ebb And Flow’. They all excel at giving the vocals something to fight against, it gives them their power.

Maria Lessing is a stunning vocalist. She could sing over the buzz of a piece of tracing paper wrapped around a comb and you’d be mesmerised. Not just because she’s a great singer, or because she can really scream, or that she can easily juggle a variety of styles, but because of the way she constructs her vocal parts. Every song here has a compelling verse and a chorus that grips you by both ears. Each is affecting and varied, with songs like ‘Tidal Wave’ or ‘Disintegrate’ feeling so emotional that they drag you into their orbit. The speedy, snappy ‘Nixy’ gives her opportunity to play with a pop-punk chorus. This hugely contrasts the screams on ‘Resurge’, and particularly the breakdown section of ‘Cyclone’, where she barks like a rabid dog – it’s absolutely vicious.

Obviously, being a trio, the work of the band’s drummer, Johannes Früchtenicht is essential in giving the songs shape and definition. It’s both tasteful and restrained, and the clever use of blastbeats gives the riffs added power.

Although the term ‘Rap Metal’ seems to have fallen out of favour, it’s the perfect description of the simple drum beat and snappy bars that define ‘The Shades’. It’s also another display of Lessing’s vocal power and proves the band can be versatile while still playing in the same sandbox.

While the record flows effortlessly, at track nine they encounter “the ‘Nightfall’ problem.” With a huge emotional chorus and a sobbing, sweaty screaming section, it’s such a gut-wrenching piece of catharsis that it feels like an ending, seemingly leaving the album nowhere to go. Yet, they seize the opportunity, using the gentle, glimmery synth parts that open ‘Symphony Of Clouds’ to usher momentum back in, bringing with it an air of grandeur. This continues with the piano-based ballad ‘Tidal Wave’, which, as its name suggests, crashes down in a huge emotional cascade. This leaves ‘Cyclone’ to close out the record. With a huge, bassy guitar riff – and a brilliant, heartrending chorus – it provides one final burst of emotion, making it easily one of their strongest songs, ending the album on its highest possible note.

The word ‘Resurgence’ means coming back stronger. It’s the perfect title for Future Palace’s fourth record, their strongest and most consistent work yet.

IAN KENWORTHY

The result was the platinum-selling ‘Bleed American’, the album which catapulted Jimmy Eat World into the mainstream. Last time anyone checked, it sold close to two million copies and is now recognised as one of the main reasons why emo became the sound of the early noughties. But why? It has to be because of the way that Jimmy Eat World managed to distill the spirit of transience and uncertainty into every note. It’s a record that wobbles on an uneasy footing, switching between reassurance and nervousness, and speaks to any time when the outcome of a choice was absolutely not guaranteed to be good. It’s also a record that creeps into your life at just the right time; for me, it was seven years after its release in the wasteland summer between finishing my education and entering the “Real World”, during which I mooched off friends whose futures were far more secure than my own. It’s the album for trying not to bite your nails when you think about what comes next. Even the titles laden with uncertainty: when I bought a copy, it was just called ‘Jimmy Eat World’. The band were concerned that ‘Bleed American’ would be read as a threatening imperative – “bleed, American!” – after the 9/11 attacks so they quietly removed the title until the album’s reissue. 

The ‘Bleed American’ era in Jimmy Eat World history is defined by their status as a singles band, and the string of singles are as good a place to start as any. ‘The Middle’, AKA the song which strained your pinky finger on Guitar Hero World Tour is still a jam, the gentle ‘hey’ offering a mental hug to the girls stuck between a rock and a hard place. The title track evokes a whole scene in just a list of nouns. ‘Sweetness’ – my favourite song on the album, if not my favourite song of the entire Proto-Emo era – sums up that sickening sensation of realising that you just aren’t good enough for the object of your affection, and being forced to pick yourself back up and move on even though you feel like the bottom of someone’s shoe. The tightly-wound ‘A Praise Chorus’ feels like the pep talk you’d give yourself in order to get yourself out of bed in that rejection situation, whether you’re listening to ‘Crimson and Clover, over and over’ or you’re on your feet, on the floor and good to go. Each single captures an entire scene or mood in a few minutes, and that’s what makes them so magical; the sensation crammed into each song will be unique to each listener, but at the same time, universal. For a brief few minutes we’ll all be sharing our own version of the same scenario, soundtracked by Jimmy Eat World.

It’s not just me who saw this record as a friend when we needed one. Paramore and Fall Out Boy have cited ‘Bleed American’ as being influential in their sound. We’d have no ‘Misery Business’ and we wouldn’t be able to ‘Dance Dance’, at least, not in the way we could now. Jimmy Eat World would have been consigned to the list of nostalgic “should’ve been much bigger than they were” bands, and we’d never have ‘Always Be’ or ‘Coffee And Cigarettes’ with their Breakfast Club Coming Of Age magnificence. It was a friend in a cardboard sleeve to so many acts, but most importantly to the band themselves. Jimmy Eat World will be playing a massive park show in London this summer, and if we trace the roots back, that show will come from their determination to create ‘Bleed American’. Everything that we love about Jimmy Eat World in 2026 comes from this album, and a whole lot of our own personal growth too.

KATE ALLVEY