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After The Party Album Review

  • Sharon McEnearney
  • Feb 22, 2017
  • 2 min read

People always say that your twenties are the best years of your life. What people don’t talk about is what happens when the supposed best years come to a close. The Menzingers’ new album After The Party dares to ask “Where we gonna go now that our twenties are over?” After The Party takes on a side of the punk experience that bands tend to ignore: what happens when you’re no longer a twenty-something musician. While many bands like Green Day and Fall Out Boy will never acknowledge let alone tackle this idea in their music, The Menzingers provides their fans, many of whom are undoubtedly entering the tail end of their twenties, with a realistic, yet slightly optimistic outlook of the future.

After The Party opens up with a track called “20’s (Tellin’ Lies)” which wastes no time getting to the concept at the heart of the album: their twenties are over and everything is horrible. The song goes on to chronicle the laments of getting older in a rant fueled by built up exasperation and fear. There is a sense of urgency in the lyrics as well as the music. It's almost as if all the pent up frustration isn’t let out in time, it’ll all be too late. When the band finally allows themselves to take a breath, the song undergoes a tonal change akin to what it feels like when time allows you to feel clarity on a topic that once upset you. The song slows immensely in speed while the lyrics begin to nostalgically reflect on change, lost time, past relationships and the fleetingness of existence. Just when the song reaches its lowest point, there is another shit in lyrics. As the song draws to a close the lyrics hopeful sentiment: “Is it wrong to say that things can change?” As this question is posed through repetition made even more powerful by Greg Barnett’s emotional vocals, the tone of the album is set: The Menzingers’ twenties may be over but they still have a lot of living left to do.

Much like the opening song, the rest of the album takes the listener on a journey through the ups and downs of adulthood which run the gamut from running into exes and not realizing they’re not who you used to know to the hard truth that sometimes living isn’t the easiest thing to do. The Menzingers are known for their conveyance of nostalgia and emotion in their music. Their lyrics are riddles with humor and sadness and hope displaying the band’s knack for conveying nostalgia and emotion in their music.. It's not easy to confront change or your own mortality, but The Menzingers tackle this challenge with total honesty and catchy hooks.

This album is important. It's what a generation of kids who grew up on pop punk are going to need as they head into their uncertain futures. It's what everyone needs when the sit alone at night wondering how things are going to change. It’s an album that reminds us that life only moves forward.

Stand out songs: Lookers, After The Party, Your Wild Years, 20’s (Tellin’ Lies)

 
 
 

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