Review: The Menzingers - Rented World
[Epitaph; 2014]
Rating: 8/10
By Cortney Willis, Copy Editor
Key Tracks: “I Don’t Want To Be An Asshole Anymore,” “Transient Love,” “When You Died”
Historically, pop-punk bands tend to have a bit of a Peter Pan complex: they just won’t grow up. Oftentimes pop-punk bands enjoy fame on the Vans Warped Tour for two to three summers and put out one or two fun, successful albums (usually on an independent record label). Teenagers will rock out and do what they think is moshing at these bands’ shows and post their often-emo lyrics as Facebook statuses.
This is all well and good for two years or so, but then the fans of the bands grow up.
And the bands...well, don’t.
For some bands, like the ever-popular Blink-182, dick and fart jokes remain intact during the band’s live shows, while the members move into musical maturity, away from constant power-hooks and simple bass lines. Sometimes, pop-punk bands even manage the seemingly miraculous act of writing a song that lasts longer than two minutes!
More often than not, however, bands produce more of the same: the same sound of music, the same whiny vocals, even the same swoopy-banged haircut that once upon a time made teenage female fans scream and swoon. Without musical maturity, these pop-punk bands break up, are dropped from their label or just fade from existence, such as Busted and Hey Monday.
Luckily for the Scranton-based The Menzingers, someone persuaded them to leave Neverland and grow up, allowing them to narrowly escape the abyss that is the end of many a pop-punk musician’s career.
With their fourth LP, Rented World, The Menzingers boast varied hooks, exciting drumbeats and richer, more mature vocals from singers Greg Barnett and Tom May. The band moves more into the direction of pure punk rather than pop-punk and it sounds as if they’re playing to an age-appropriate audience.
The new musical maturity doesn’t mean the band’s music sounds boring. On the contrary, the melodies are somehow catchier than they have been on previous albums. The members have grown up just enough to stay in line with the fans they won over years ago--they’ve grown up together.
“I Don’t Want To Be An Asshole Anymore” is an awesome, fast-paced first track with one of the best guitar riffs of 2014 and sets the tone of the album. By yelling the title words, the band members make it clear that they’re leaving teenage antics behind for more mature thematic material. “Transient Love” sounds like pleasant folk-influenced punk, and no note is superfluous.
Bands nearing the end of their Warped Tour days should take a clue from The Menzingers. With the solid, completely airtight Rented World they’re doing the whole growing up thing just right.
