PUP
2022 PUNK-ROCK/POP-PUNK
The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND is the fourth album by punk rock hook specialists PUP. Hey, let’s have a quick brainstorming session. Let’s name a pop-punk band that has released a good record since 2010. I know that’s a pretty tall task so we can settle for one that hasn’t released an embarrassing record instead if that is giving us trouble. Either way PUP are just about the only acceptable answer, and what a strange thing that is. In an age of unbridled celebration of nostalgia the public’s demand for pop-punk has reached a boiling point. They’ve swarmed to the genre’s proverbial gates, throwing fistfuls of cash at whoever will take up this now sacred mantle. When Machine Gun Kelly can drop the most nauseating imitations that you can imagine and still be wildly successful you know times are desperate. Luckily PUP are more than happy to stand tall and deliver those shouted choruses, say loads of snarky shit and lay the sticky riffs on thick. Not to make them out as the second coming of whoever you consider to be the messiah of middle-school angst but they are quite good. Particularly their last album Morbid Stuff with its wall-to-wall earworms that feel made to be blasted from your first hand me down car on a warm evening. You’ve got all the windows down and hell, you’re not sure that the deteriorated electronics will roll them back up again but in this moment you couldn’t care less.
On first inspection The Unraveling seems like it could be a concept album but its not despite its title that’s just short of the usual X is fucking dead and a couple tracks setting the band up as a failing corporation. There’s no problem with that but you should expect stuff along the lines of classic topics such as bad relationships and self-destructive behavior. Onto the sound, before they were pop-punk with jagged edges, from there they’ve subtracted some pop for more punk. The riffs are nastier, the attitude angrier, and the instrumentation noisier. This isn’t a complete makeover so don’t get too concerned; there are plenty of anthemic choruses to go around. All in all the final product is fine, just fine. Half the tracks are good, half are mediocre and one is unbearable so let’s get into it.
The intro Four Chords is largely a simple piano piece that serves as a platform for the lyrics. The band are a board of directors and our narrator blew the last of their cash on a piano as a fuck you to the assholes stuck in the past who want them to make the same tired tunes over and over. When the next track, Totally Fine, comes on the humor sets, whether intentional or not. Once you get past the messy soup of a mix at its base it’s their same style. Adding more distorted guitar and heap of compression onto songs isn’t exactly revolutionary. Regardless, it’s hard to not like a noisy barnburner whose riffs are as catchy as the chorus, sure the lyrics are of the typical fuck the world and fuck me variety but who cares when everything around it kicks so much ass. If you couldn’t get past the cacophony then Robot Write A Love Song should help mend the situation somewhat. Synths soothe like soft sunlight on cold skin as the band leans back to belt out charming lines about a robot frying its circuits from emotion.
Black Hole Sun
On 102.1 FM
I think I’m gonna self-destruct if I ever hear that song again
It’s a lot of fun but that’s not to say the chunky abrasion from the previous track is gone, just toned down with quieter moments that let the band’s personality shine through. The hits don’t stop as the best damn track of the record comes in stomping feet and watery eyes. It’s called Matilda which is the name of the singer’s favorite guitar that after a hundred faithful shows has fallen into disuse. At its core it’s the tried and true story of lost love that is a mainstay of the genre but the twist makes it miles more endearing. Oh and an amazing chorus doesn’t hurt either
Now you don’t even write the chords down
You don’t even play me anyhow, anymore
Now you just keep cranking them out
Like you’re trying to numb yourself
With all this work but it’s just not working out
Sad to say that The Unraveling is frontloaded and here is when it falls head first into a rut. The offender in question is titled Relentless. On the earlier tracks great songwriting softened the bite of the muddled production, without it we are treated to a four and a half minute long headache. The riffs are lame and if you concentrate hard enough to pick up the lyrics that are lost so deep in the tangle of shit you can find they say nothing of interest. Immediately it is followed by part two of the opener featuring the same piano and corporate comparison. The break in action is appreciated but its nearly forgotten theme is awkwardly placed in the listing, and at just twenty seconds long it feels like an afterthought. I won’t even discuss the third part that shows up later whose whooping nine seconds hardly constitutes a bump in the road. Waiting is a mixed bag of both ideas and quality. Pounding electric guitar juxtaposed against corny radio rock chorus. It’s enjoyable in portions as I love the acerbic contempt on the verses but it can’t carry the whole piece, at least it ends up barely on the better side of average.
I was hoping this part of the review would never arrive but the monster named Habits approaches. It’s an awful ear sore, from the ripped straight from soundcloud rap intro to the trite lyrics to the boring as sin punk instrumental; all wrapped up in the brain pulverizing compression that we’ve grown to know and despise so well. Thank god Cutting Off The Corners is the required moody ballad but when you take away the gratitude for a well-deserved rest it’s entirely forgettable. It’s got the stock “please take me back love” story with a syrupy guitar riff that is much too familiar. Grim Reaping is otherwise unremarkable pop-punk turned once again into an unsightly slop by this record’s direction. They’ve been on a lengthy cold streak but they come through in a big way on the closer PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy. The riff is as irresistible as it is bone crushing and the lyrics are wonderful. Hilarious and snide there’s too many good lines to quote them all.
So you’re selling insurance? That’s so inspiring
Give me two more years, let me know if you’re hiring
I’ll be honest, it felt pretty great
The free shoes and the critical acclaim
I sold those Nikes, I bought a new guitar case
It’s called protecting your investments
Somehow the vocals feel so much clearer here than on half the other cuts which is of course welcome. I love how it ends on an incredible sarcastic “I just want to thank all the sponsors” but at the same time it makes me wish this corpo angle was explored to a fuller degree. Alas The Unraveling is a poorly produced hodgepodge that delights one minute and pushes your patience to its limit the next. It’s worth listening to for its better tracks alone but I can see the old fans or those staring down their pop-punk classification being very unamused in between having to pause to test the music on a few different systems to make sure it’s not their shitty headphones that are causing the clutter.
5/10
