Collars – Half Life

Self-Released

I’d love to speculate on the state of emo in 2025, but honestly, I’m in my thirties and have never felt more disconnected from the state of the scene. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in the Midwest, and almost as long since I’ve been packed into a sweaty basement for a DIY show. Twitter is dead in the water, TikTok is brainless promo chasing, and the algorithm is swallowing everything else whole. It seems like “waves” matter less and less, and the kids are just making the music they want to, which is beautiful.

It’s a relief then to hear a band like Collars who are doing the damn thing in a very traditional sense of the genre while still keeping their music compelling and hard-hitting. Comprised of four friends from Palmdale, California, Collars are a band who seem to be in it for the love of the game. After a couple of EPs and singles sprinkled throughout the 2020s, Half Life arrives as the group’s first full-length collection of songs, even if “full-length” seems like a stretch for a 23-minute release. 

Written collectively over the course of five years, Half Life was prefaced by the phenomenal “Polgygon,” a shouty math rock rager that captured my attention immediately when it was released as a lead single back in February. As the overwrought vocals speak to your brain, the jagged instrumental commandeers the body, tossing the listener around with reckless but calculated abandon. It all evokes the Midwest mastery of bands like Gulfer, Drunk Uncle, and Oliver Houston, harkening back to a more modest and traditional style of math-influenced emo. 

There are gang vocals, crazy-ass drum fills, sappy singing, and everything you’d probably expect from a group that’s locked down the username “@mathrockband” on every major social media platform. Things start with a slow simmer on the opening title track, then launch into a non-stop barrage from that point on from the peppy “Tough Love” to the punchy “Jackpot.” Throughout the runtime, Collars infuse everything with an incredible sense of urgency and earnestness, assembling into one incredibly tight package that finds happiness, growth, and fulfillment on its own terms.