Review: Neck Deep’s self-titled released via TB and Hopeless

 

On their sixth full-length Neck Deep do what they set out to do and they do it well. Every single track here is huge in a way only Warped tour was huge. Infectious riffs, catchy choruses, maybe a quip or vulgarity to make it really stick in your teenage mind. We even do blink-182 double time on “Sort Yourself Out,” the second track where all these things are in their strongest form. It’s big, it’s attachable to nostalgia, it’s attachable to almost anybody. You probably know someone who is more than a little messy and has made you feel put out at one point or another.


Frontman Ben Barlow has become a really good lyricist by making pop punk lyrics as relatable as possible without leaning into toxic masculinity. He writes in the same way he probably talks, there’s a tinge of sarcasm but it’s always believable. Granted, he also sneaks in some Facebook-isms like emphasizing he’s “so sick of this planet” on “Take Me with You.”


And to be honest it’s not really much to do with fucking flowers

When you stay up for hours doing nothing

Fucking drank all my kambucha

Play dumb just cause it suits ya

Sort yourself out

To me what stops this project from being great is all these strong pop punk songs is all the record actually is. Neck Deep already proved to me they were capable of being this band on 2020’s All Distortions Are Intentional. It had all the sonics, yes, but it also had variety. It also had a fairly compelling concept and storyline which worked similarly for other bands from past decades who went for this exact appeal; see American Idiot, see The Black Parade. And not to make comparisons but it's all drawing from those bands anyway, with or without me to criticize it. “They May Not Mean To” is basically a New Found Glory song, Ben name drops a Modern Baseball album on the second to last track here. I do think basically all these songs will be fun on my playlist all year long, but repeated listens of the album itself already feel stale around the midway point.

Our score of Neck Deep is 7/10.

Our favorite track is track 2, Sort Yourself Out.


Support Neck Deep

Follow me on Musicboard

The AsterTracks playlist on Spotify

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Best of Month: The top 25 songs of the year

Hi, it’s me, it’s Claudia, and today I’m going to do something I haven’t done yet. So every year I do the top ten singles of the year, but I don’t actually even listen to singles anymore. Unless I know they’re going to be singles, like on their own, otherwise I feel like they’re spoiling the record for me. This year I thought it’d be fun to broadcast my top twenty-five songs of the year because I do this every year for friends, mainly myself, but now it can be content. So, this won’t be a highly produced blog post and instead be very casual but hopefully you’ll get something out of it. If you’re coming from Reddit read the link below before leaving any comments for me on here or Reddit itself and let’s get started. Also, quick note. Some of these did not come out this year but are on records released this year. In those cases, assume I haven't heard the track till this year. Coming from Reddit? Start here! #25 “Glow in the Dark” by Mothica is from Rocksmith+ but it's also just
Read more

Best of Month; the Top 10 Albums of 2023

Image
2023 has come to a close and it was a lot to unpack. After relocating last year I had to figure out what to do next, admittedly a scarier process than moving itself. I’ve settled in now, changes have gone on, there were a lot of hard times and a lot of great memories made throughout the year. You may have noticed, if you’re a long-time reader, I was far less open about my own personal life in my reviews. If you’re new and this is your first year here, then hey you never knew this part of the blog. In these blurbs there are personal anecdotes, but they are far less revealing. Regardless, thank you for even clicking here. This year for my own writing was possibly the best yet. I reviewed more albums in one year than ever before and worked with ten artists to promote their stuff before the release date. If all the stars align there’s one more thing coming out this year. I hope you had a great year yourself, are having a relaxing holiday season and enjoy this recap of albums. Please suppor
Read more

Best of Month: The final reviews of the year

Image
Best of Month! We wrote so many reviews this year there were a ton leftover. So, to open the year end stuff this year, we're emptying the vault. There are a few pre-requisites for reading this year (but only if you came from Reddit) So look for that below. From Reddit? Start here! Rat Jesu - Prepared to Die (Drixxo Lords) I have been a pretty public cybergrind defender on the timeline, but in all honesty I haven’t dug into the genre on my own time. I’m not sure if you would consider Rat Jesu cybergrind but they’re definitely part of the movement, in fact I came to this record by following this artist from a feature on the newest Blind Equation. As I said above, Prepared to Die isn’t so much cybergrind but it is a neat, quick nu metal record with hyperpop influence. James from Blind Equation does show up as a feature and the song he’s on is a hit regardless of genre. My favorite track on the record, however, has got to be “Priestess of the Godless Valley,” There are two other featur
Read more