HELLMODE

A re-review:

Jeff Rosenstock savior of the contemporary punk scene from the likes of MGK and those attempting to make good punk and in turn fucking punk bloody. What Jeff does however is attempt to resurrect it and bring life to it that it desperately needs. I heard Hellmode in its entirety about a year ago now, and now own the album on vinyl and love it! But does it hold up? Let’s see!

Will U Still U wonderfully opens the album by asking the question, “Will you still love me after I fucked up?” The song is essentially all about that! It’s an excellent punky banger! It then segues directly into the heavier and louder Head which is this frantic classically influenced punk song. It’s outstanding! The sprint to the finish features guitar distortion lending it an almost Daughters esque sound. You know I love me a good Daughters sound. Liked U Better is a terrific song! Very very catchy chorus and brilliantly fun production! Love this track! Doubt is honestly a beautiful song! I read it as letting out your emotions and being you. It’s actually quite heartfelt! Just kill the doubt. It’s a brilliant song! Future Is Dumb is a killer rocker of an album! Soft Living is another excellent song! Healmode is a beautiful ballad. It’s one that I’ve learned all the lyrics to and have sung numerous times and I love it! One of my favorites off the album! Life Admin is a song that I genuinely adore. It’s got one of the catchiest flows of the entire album! I love it! I Wanna Be Wrong is another outstanding pop punk banger on the album! Graveyard Song reminds me of something but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It sounds like something that would’ve been a 90’s hit. Maybe an Oasis song…maybe a Blur song…I’m not sure. It’s excellent. Then the album closes with my favorite song on the record, the absolutely electrifying and outright brilliant 7-minute killer 3 Summers! Arguable for one of my top 3 songs of the decade so far! It’s just purely hard-hitting punk rock! Both the instrumental performances on this as well as the vocal performance from Rosenstock are equally outstanding work!

Rosenstock is truly one of the leading artists in contemporary punk, and this album is nothing but a perfect example to back that claim up. It’s purely brilliant! Everything about it, from minute one to forty. I’d be so bold as to call this potentially the greatest pop punk album ever written.