Solemn Judgement – "Spineless" Track Premier

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Anger is perhaps the most taboo emotion. You’re allowed to be happy, people welcome it. You’re allowed to be sad, people understand that. You’re allowed to be fearful, some people prey on that. But those feelings are all internal. Anger? That’s an outward-facing emotion, and most people shy away from it for that very reason. Anger is destructive, it’s unthinking, it’s ugly… but that makes it all the more vital to get out.

As a result of where anger sits in our emotional landscape, hardcore is one of the most cathartic genres of music. Sure, listening to Elliot Smith when you’re sad scratches a certain itch, but there’s nothing more emotionally-satisfying than listening to some punchy guitars and screamed vocals when you need to vent. It’s the musical embodiment of one of the most dangerous and frowned-upon emotions in our society, and that makes it one of the most important. 

Solemn Judgement is a hardcore band based out of Detroit formed from the ashes of half a dozen different Michigan groups. They’re still in that exciting early stage of a band where they’re frequently putting out singles and EPs, each release providing fans with a slight update on the group’s ever-shifting sound. While Solemn Judgement’s EP from earlier this year ranged from familial spite to self-destructive hatred, their newest track “Spineless” is more of a faceless rage directed outward at any and all oppressors. 

The song begins with a metallic guitar in the left channel that’s soon followed by a distant scream and a series of fast-paced cymbal taps that set the pace for the coming bombardment. From there, the rest of the band launches into a low and slow riff designed to pummel listeners into oblivion. This leads to a fast-paced pit-opening instrumental where the thumping bassline, gnashing guitar, and snappy snare hits synch up, making way for Marissa Ward’s vehement vocals. 

Midway through the song, there’s an instrumental dropout that clears the path for each word to land like a punch to the gut. The lyrics are pure bile; absolute anger spewed out that the listener can easily channel their rage into. Ward yells “you’re scared senseless to face your vices / you’ll judge those for using their voices,” and you begin to get the sense that these were words that couldn’t be held in any longer.

With “Spineless” Solemn Judgement aren’t just airing their own grievances, they’re also providing an outlet for each and every one of their listeners to project their frustrations onto. And that is why hardcore will always be irreplaceable. 

 

Catch Solemn Judgement on the road this winter:

11/15 in Cincinnati @ Bitter Taste Fest
11/18 in Detroit @ Sanctuary
12/5 in Kalamazoo @ Greenhouse
12/6 in Chicago @ Empty Bliss
12/7 in Detroit @ Trumbullplex
12/8 in Akron @ Hive Mind

 

Dogleg Is The Future

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When I first moved to Michigan last September, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Not only had I never been to this side of the country before, but aside from The White Stripes and maybe a few Motown singles, I knew nothing about the music scene here. In the time since l moved to the midwest last fall, I’ve been lucky enough to discover hundreds of amazing local bands and see probably about as many play. 

In a few weeks, I’ll be moving again and I can confidently say the thing I’ll miss the most about Michigan won’t be the Faygo or the coney islands, or even the square pizza. No, the thing I’ll miss the most about Michigan will be Dogleg concerts.

Dogleg is a four-piece rock band based out of Detroit playing a distinct blend of thrashy emo rock. They’re made up of guitarist Alex Stoitsiadis, bassist Chase Macinski, rhythm guitarist Parker Grissom, and drummer Jacob Hanlon. It sounds like a pretty modest setup all things considered, yet each time I see the band live, I walk away convinced that it was the best performance I’ve ever seen.

The first time I saw Dogleg was December of 2018, where they were playing alongside Shortly, Formerly Bodies, and Ness Lake at The Loving Touch. It was a relatively subdued performance from the band, but I enjoyed it enough to drop $10 on a shirt to support them. They also had a CRT TV set up at the merch table where fans could challenge them to a game of Smash Bros, which endeared me to them immediately if only because it was unlike anything I’d ever seen in all my years of concertgoing. They were officially on my radar.

 
 

The second time I saw Dogleg was at Fauxchella III in Bowling Green, Ohio, and that was the performance that turned me into a lifelong fan. 

The band took the stage at 6 PM and played a ferocious set to a rapt audience as the backdrop behind them projected a youtube compilation of anime fights and intro sequences. They blasted through their set hair flailing, drums pounding, and guitar screaming. The pièce de résistance came near the end when Alex paused to perform a handstand in between violent guitar strums only to land it flawlessly and continue playing. 

Maybe it was the anime fight scenes, or perhaps the mixture of Red Bull and pizza fueling me at the time, but in that moment, everything made sense. 

 
 


In the time since that performance, I’ve probably seen the band play at least a dozen times. That’s the benefit of getting into your local music scene, because not only will you discover these cool bands right in your own back yard, but if you like them, they’re probably playing around you all the time. 

Dogleg’s publicly-available music consists of two EP’s from 2016 that honestly don’t quite capture the intensity of their live performances very well. They’re solid releases, but they pale in comparison to the energy and musicianship on display at an actual Dogleg show. I began to think that the true essence of a Dogleg concert may be lighting in a bottle, unable to ever be captured on studio equipment… until today.

This morning, the group released “Fox” off their upcoming debut album Melee due out sometime in 2020 on Triple Crown Records. The song is perfectly indicative of the group’s unparalleled on-stage energy, and probably the closest they’ll ever get to bottling that experience up in a neat and easily-streamable package. The song’s music video (filmed at this year’s twelfth and final Bled Fest) further emphasizes how well the band’s stage presence elevates their music.


Dogleg’s songs are the perfect balance of group chants, crowd-churning riffage, and fast-paced instrumentation that flies by quicker than the listener even has time to comprehend. Their music is pure spectacle, something you have to see to believe. Whether they’re performing to hundreds of people in a packed room at Bled Fest or dozens of people in someone’s basement, each show, the band plays like their lives depend on it.

This is all to say I’ve never seen a band quite like Dogleg, and I feel incredibly thankful to have been able to watch them perform so many times over the past year. I can only hope they’ll continue to tour, and I’ll be able to keep seeing them (even if it’s slightly less frequent going forward) because they’ve been a highlight of my time in the Midwest. If you have the chance to see Dogleg live, do yourself a favor and do not pass it up.

Photo: @dappestdan

Photo: @dappestdan

Hexing – In Tandem | EP Review

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Sometimes it’s the small things in life that resonate with us the most; the little acts of kindness, the unspoken acts of love, and the subconscious actions of others that end up staying with us for years to come. Hexing’s second EP In Tandem is a 20-minute collection of songs built around documenting these moments, encasing them in amber, and holding them up to the light for the world to see. 

Based out of the frigid, lake-adjacent Muskegon, Hexing is a five-piece rock band that blends emo, punk, and the occasional drop of melodic hardcore to a satisfying and emotionally-satiating result. The group’s newest release follows their 2018 EP Temporary and two-track single (fittingly) titled Everything is a Bummer. Seemingly having moved to a more positive mental state, In Tandem finds the group detailing their interpersonal relationships and putting words to the seemingly nondescript moments that end up meaning the world.

In fact, opening track “Car Crash” begins by throwing the listener directly into one of these lived-in moments of adoration. The song itself is a clear-eyed pop-punky track that shifts from emotive harmonies to trashy riffage at a moment’s notice, but the song’s first lines raise the curtains on a scene of confessional weakness. We hear our narrator recall a time when a loved one had to shepherd them home while they sat drunk in the passenger seat and sunk deeper and deeper into self-loathing.

“I got drunk as you drove me home
so I didn’t have to be alone with my thoughts
so maybe I could feel a little less like me
cause the more I think the more I hate me”

In addition to relaying these moments of personal connectivity, the other major through-line of the EP is aging out of a pre-determined mold and into something less defined. Throughout the release, the band finds themselves at a crossroads in life, stuck between their firey teenage punk phase and whatever comes after that. Lyrics like “running off what remains of my teenage fumes and decaying youth, cause I’m just not angry anymore” bottle up the all-too-familiar story of a once-punk teenager who has now reached their mid-twenties/early-thirties and looked around only to realize that they’re the oldest person in the basement.

But this newfound maturation also comes with a sense of happiness, because despite the uncomfortable (and non-negotiable) adjustment to getting older, Hexing still manages to find rays of positivity in the face of what could otherwise be complete collapse. On the goofily-named “Fleetwood Mac Sex Pants,” the band finds themselves adjusting to a more positive outlook on life… or at least a slightly less negative one. It’s a classic emo track in that the silly song name merely serves as a distraction from the surprisingly-mature sentiments on display in the lyrics as the band reiterates, “I’m getting used to feeling okay / it’s unnatural to not hate everything” in their most earnest and Wonder-Years-esque delivery.

Other highlights include the lead single “Swamp Thing,” which boasts hard-hitting screams, a driving drumline, and lyrics delivered through a defiant snarl accentuated by punchy palm-muted guitar riffs. On the opposite end of the tonal spectrum, “Sunday Mornings” builds off an emotive Balance and Composure-like guitar line that works its way up to a melodic and explosive post-rock finish. Throughout In Tandem’s 20 minutes, the band displays a unique ability to mix different subgenres and influences into one fluid presentation that makes them all seem effortless. These technical chops are backed up by the band’s grounded lyricism that any aging punk should easily be able to relate to.

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Growing up means making a lot of changes, not the least of which is figuring out how to adjust to your waning energy, passion, and drive. It’s easy to be an energetic teenager; it’s harder to be an energetic adult. We have more responsibilities, more to lose, and more people that grow to count on us over time. It’s shifting from ‘fuck yeah I’ll stage dive’ to ‘I think I’ll stand in the back tonight.’ It’s getting a good night’s sleep and eating right. That might not sound very punk, but neither is growing up. 

Rocky as they are, these types of changes are ultimately for the best because they’re signs of development and evolution. Getting better doesn’t happen all at once; it’s a long, ongoing, and sometimes painful process of incremental steps in the right direction. 

In Tandem is an album about loosening your grip and finding your place in the world. Obviously, the title and album cover both evoke a certain romantic notion, but the EP itself delves into all the specific ways that a relationship can live, thrive, and sometimes falter. Recognizing the role that people play in our lives is not to be taken lightly, and Hexing has done a masterful job of portraying the complex ways that these relationships exist. Nothing is perfect, and everything is changing, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

The Menzingers – Hello Exile | Album Review

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I’ve been in the punk and hardcore scene since I was a sophomore in high school. I sold merch for local bands, and all my friends were either in bands or involved in the scene. I’ve seen people come and go, and I’ve made some of my closest friends to date through punk and hardcore. Punk and all its subgenres have shaped my politics and my world view, growing up in a conservative middle-class family, punk saved me from growing up and becoming a Republican. There aren’t many punk bands I’ve been able to grow up with, but that’s the reason The Menzingers holds a special place in my music collection. I was a fan of The Menzingers when I first heard On The Impossible Past during my senior year of high school. They instantly became the soundtrack to that year, and again in 2014 with Rented World, but it wasn’t until 2017 when After The Party came out that I realized this band was making music specifically for people like me. I’m not exactly 30 yet, but I related to every word of that album. I was simultaneously coming to terms with having a new group of friends and being pummeled by a failed relationship. As you could expect, listening to After The Party and watching the music video for the title track felt like one of those moments where art eerily imitated life. Now three years later, The Menzingers are back reminiscing on bygone days and being nostalgic about the former self with their newest album Hello Exile.

Buy and large, Hello Exile continues the sound of After The Party but also offers a newly-adopted sound that blends old guy punk with a beach rock-type sound. When the first couple singles “Anna” and “America (You’re Freaking Me Out)” dropped there was some fan backlash and criticism regarding the vocal mix, but after listening to Hello Exile dozens of times since release, I don’t even notice the mixing anymore because it fits so well with the band’s new friendlier sound. While After the Party may have been a gut punch, Hello Exile offers a much more mellow and relaxed feeling, though it’s still not short of any nostalgia that the band has become celebrated for. The album starts with a big political statement, addressing first the state of America, and the monsters that our parents voted for before tackling the idea of Christianity and politics being one and the same, and the idea of not shipwrecking life after your 30s.

Some of that iconic Menzingers nostalgia is seen on “Anna,” which feels like a pre-breakup song set during that awkward phase of knowing the breakup is just around the corner, but when you’re still attempting to savor those memories of when things were easier. We get a glimpse of that with the first verse as Greg Barnett recalls drinking too much cheap red wine and laughing while dancing in the kitchen. Then we see memories of moving in together, and later it’s revealed Anna has been absent for so long that the city of Philadelphia has changed, and all their friends keep asking about her. That emotionalism isn’t just seen in Anna, but also “Strangers Forever,” which was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel, Anna Karenina. It presents the idea of a relationship ending and having to see that person again at a show, coffee shop, or just in your peripheral vision and deciding it’s best not to make eye contact and to stay strangers forever. Barnett sings with a bleak emotional outlook “Maybe it's for the better we both stay strangers forever, maybe  it's for the best we pretend like we never met, forget everything that we've ever known,” so even in the post-breakup heartache The Menzingers manage to find a reassuring peace. That reassurance is continued in the album’s title track “Hello Exile,” in which we see a summer romance that lasts for just a season, but whose memory lasts for a thousand years. And how, even years later, the singer still thinks of that summer love and it brings a smile to their face.

The album ends in true Menzingers fashion with “Farewell Youth,” which is a little bit of a slow burn, and one of those reasons I love this band so much. I moved from Los Angeles to outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and in my high school, I was the only punk around until I converted some friends into punks and hardcore kids. This song is essentially about exactly that, being one of a few punks in a city and growing up and then growing apart from those friends. The chorus is a call back to former you, with “farewell youth, I’m afraid I hardly got to know you,” and the rest of the song looks at being a punk in a small town, getting high while listening to favorite albums and drinking the cheap stuff. The album ends with a love letter to the days of youth and adventure, days when you tried to fit in by hanging out with the older kids. Days of desperately attempting to escape your hometown, whether that was driving to god-knows-where or just killing empty days in the basement of a friend's house.

 Hello Exile is an album for any punk who has found themselves growing up in the scene and asking yourself what’s next now that you’re older. While After the Party was about failing a relationship in your 30's, Hello Exile examines the dissociative nostalgia that comes with your 30's. It's an album dedicated to looking back at the person you were through the years and the continued search for the person you are continually growing into. Anyone who is experiencing a shift in life can find this album as a soundtrack because it covers everything from the American political landscape to remembering those days of summer love, and even getting high while listening to your favorite albums with your high school friends. Hello Exile by The Menzingers will be your soundtrack down memory lane. 

 

Just a 20-something former hardcore kid living in Nashville. Follow @EyeHateHockey (formerly EyeHateBaseball, but after the Dodgers elimination I’m done with baseball until April) on Twitter and Instagram for lukewarm music takes and bad sports opinions. 

 

Jail Socks – It's Not Forever | EP Review

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My first encounter with Jail Socks was shrouded in mystery. Sometime in December of 2018, I stumbled across a tweet from @thisbandfucks claiming “Jail Socks has RIFFS,” and that was all I needed. 

The video in question showed the band playing the outro of “Freshman Year” at a house show. The room was dimly-lit, the instrumentals were tight, and the crowd was shouting along enthusiastically. All you can really make out in the low-res video are three vague figures flipping their hair and jamming out.

 
 

That one minute clip scratched the insatiable part of my brain that’s constantly-hungry for twinkly emo riffs and ended up sending me on a search for Jail Socks’ music, but I quickly discovered there wasn’t much of it. I found the emo trio on Bandcamp, downloaded everything I could, and then spent the better part of 2019 listening to their four available songs spread across one single and a split. 

I had already memorized every word of the group’s music by the time No Sleep Records announced they signed the band in February of 2019, and as a budding fan, I had never felt more affirmed. Needless to say, after seeing the band play live multiple times throughout the year and listening to their four songs literally hundreds of times, It's Not Forever has been one of my most-anticipated releases of 2019. Turns out, even with all the hype, expectations, and near unbearable build-up to its release, this collection of songs was absolutely worth the wait.

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Opening track “Jake Haplin” is a re-recorded version of the same song off No Promises, which is so fully-realized here that it retroactively makes that earlier rendition of the song feel like a slightly more whiny demo. Now featuring tighter instrumentation, sharper vocals, and a fully-instrumental outro that leads directly into the following track, it’s incredible how much life the band was able to breathe into a song I’d already listened to hundreds of times. 

The song begins with a pinprick-precise guitar riff courtesy of guitarist and lead singer Aidan Yoh that feels like a rush of caffeine traveling directly to your brain after your first sip of morning coffee. From there, the rest of the band enters the fray, launching into a bouncy emo riff with jagged fist-pump-inspiring beats. After a minute of straight riffage, that energetic excitement boils over and lulls to a subdued hum that makes way for the now-iconic first lines of the song as Yoh shouts.

“I’m only smoking to feel the satisfaction of warm hand
I know I can’t freestyle, but I swear
I’ll come back from this. 
I’ll come back from this.
I swear”

After these tearful promises to return from some unspecified physical or emotional space, the group quickly picks up speed again and returns to the rolling emo riff that kicked off the song. From there, “Jake Haplin” bleeds directly into “Parting Words,” blending that same sparkly guitar line into a newly-energized bout of lyrical optimism placed over Colman O'Brien’s steady drumbeat. “Parting Words” builds to a similar instrumental drop-out midway through, clearing room for Yoh to belt:

“AND THE WAY YOU LEFT ME
HAD ME THINKING
THAT I'D DONE SOMETHING WRONG
OH BUT I'D FORGOTTEN
THAT IT WAS YOU
ALL ALONG”

Yet another line that feels primed for screen-printed art cards, Tumblr quotage, and backyard stick and pokes, these lyrics strike an interesting balance between hyper-specific for their author and general enough that a broader audience can project their own experiences onto them. This relatable lyricism combined with Yoh’s group-chant-esque vocal delivery mold together for an unforgettable and instantly-catchy moment that will grab your attention and stay stuck in your head long after your first listen.

Lead single “Poplar Avenue” is perhaps the most energetic track on the EP, weaving a fast-paced tale of a deteriorating relationship all within a few lines, interspersed with tight instrumentation. Throwing the listener straight into the deep end, the band bursts in with a hard-charging and bassy riff as Yoh expresses drunken statements of regret, exacerbated from spending too long on the road:

“I wish I never said those things to you
That at the time I really thought I meant
When I called you drunk from Memphis, Tennessee
I couldn’t comprehend the gravity of things to come”

After Yoh beats themself up for alcohol-assisted faux pas, the track opens up allowing some of the most evocative lyricism on the entire EP to emerge:

“The way you pressed your lips on to my neck
And no I don’t consider you a friend
God knows I still wish you all the best”

As the lead single, I feverishly devoured “Poplar Avenue” the day that it came out, listening probably dozens of times within the space of the first 24 hours. Emotions and excitement were already running high when I first hit play on the track, but the lines above evoked such a visceral reaction from me that I began to wonder if the band had firsthand knowledge of every relationship I’ve ever been in. First I got chills, then I got goosebumps, then my eyes began to well up. It’s the closest an emo fan ever gets to being “shook,” and I was shaken. These lyrics are followed closely by astute observations that can only have been made by someone in a deteriorating relationship.

“Softly spoken in your bedroom
See your phone light on the ceiling
Lets me know that you’re not listening
Why can’t I get through?
You in my arms is all that I need
So why can’t,
Why can’t I,
Why can’t I get through to you?”

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In the back half of the EP, things slow down a touch. “Sunlight” sees drummer Colman O'Brien and bassist Jake Thomas taking center stage with one of the song’s most hard-hitting rhythm sections. Meanwhile, the penultimate “Freshman Year” is yet another re-recording off No Promises, seen here rendered in a more produced, honed, and precious light as Yoh reminiscences on bygone friendships, romances, and late nights of high school.

Possibly the EP’s greatest achievement, six-minute closer “Steering Wheel” is a poignant and carefully-crafted emo track that feels at once hopeless and optimistic. Opening with an acoustic introduction, the full band eventually comes in with a bombastic crash of cymbals and bass before developing a masterful slow build. Over the course of the song’s six minutes, Yoh paints a picture of an existence plagued with nostalgia, regret, and betrayal. 

In what feels like a thesis statement for the entire release, “Steering Wheel” finds Yoh coming to an important realization in the form of the EP’s namesake before the band launches into a meditative instrumental break: 

“You always said that I would run when shit got tough
I hate coward I’ve become
I hate the things I’ve done
But I keep reminding myself when the days are long
It’s not forever” 

It’s here that the EP’s title finally makes sense. Yet another example of lyrics that are (obviously) meaningful to their creators while simultaneously being relatable enough that anyone listening can grasp on and fill with their own meaning. The lines evoke hazy memories of friends who may still live down the street, or you may never see again. It feels like youthful exuberance and hopeful romanticism swirling together. These lines act as a reminder that nothing is forever; friendships, relationships, family, pets, sadness, happiness, memories. It’s the knowledge that all of this is fleeting. Some of it may be good, some of it may be bad, but for better or worse, this will never happen again, and that’s something we often lose sight of. 

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It’s Not Forever is a labor of love. It’s the result of years of touring, basement shows, and honing their craft. This is most directly evidenced by the change from the early versions of songs like “Jake Halpin” to these newer renditions, but it’s also seen in the lyrics sprinkled all throughout the album. This EP is also the result of years of life; years of experiences, feelings, and emotions sometimes long-bottled up, now poured on to canvas for all to see. It’s reflective, cathartic, and deeply-feeling. 

It’s Not Forever is an absolutely fantastic unveiling to the world, and the fact that it’s not even the group’s first full album makes them one of the most exciting and promising acts in modern emo. It’s hard to quantify all of the passion and life that went into this release, and trying to picture all that might happen between now and the band’s next collection of songs makes my head spin, but one thing’s for sure… It’s not forever, and we’re lucky that Jail Socks are here to remind us of that.