Neck Deep's The Peace and the Panic Is Just Around the Corner.
If you’re reading this, go mark August 18th on your calendar right now. Why? I mean, if you came to this article, you are probably a Neck Deep fan and you care that their new album, The Peace and the Panic, is going to be released on the 18th.
It doesn’t seem like that long since August 2015 when the band released Life’s Not Out to Get You, but a lot of writing and recording has been done in order to bring us fans eleven more tracks, including “Happy Judgement Day”, “Where Do We Go When We Go”, and “Motion Sickness”, all of which sound very promising.
Both “Where Do We Go When We Go” and “Motion Sickness”, are very reminiscent of the upbeat feeling of Life’s Not Out To Get You, with the pop punk vibe promoting the idea that The Peace and the Panic is going to another album that listeners will be content to listen to on repeat. Over the past few weeks I’ve listened to the three singles over and over, and I still can’t get them out of my head.
In these two singles, listeners will find an unsurprising meditation on living and having a meaningful life. I say ‘unsurprising’ because, sadly, both singer, Ben Barlow, and bassist, Fil Thorpe-Evans, endured the passing of their fathers in 2016. The influence of this is incredibly evident in “Where Do We Go When We Go”, as the song focuses on the concept of life after death, and how life is incredibly unpredictable and can shift at any moment. “Motion Sickness” compliments this, and almost acts as a follow up song, as it has the strong message of living life to the fullest despite whatever hardships life may throw your way. Barlow sings of a “familiar voice” of a ghost reminding him that “Life is the great unknown” in times of stress and confusion. The message of not letting sadness lock you into a depression rings clear in this song, and reminds listeners that though life has it’s difficult times, it’s important to remember “how far you’ve come” and to keep running and jumping forward.
The most interesting single, though, is “Happy Judgement Day”, specifically through the subject matter of the song. While being a little more punk rock is not new to Neck Deep, with “Serpents” and “Citizens of Earth” showcasing the ‘heavier’ songs of the band, “Happy Judgement Day” marks a motion towards a more politically themed record. While most of Neck Deep’s songs have been about friendship, relationships, and pride of where you come from, “Happy Judgement Day” concerns images such as “Building walls and dropping bombs”, and how “We all worship celebrities, desperate for an identity”. The question as to whether the entire album will have this political theme to it is still in the air, but this separation from the previous themes is not something to fear. Many punk bands follow this route, such as Green Day who hit new levels of fame with American Idiot, following a relative lull in popularity after their Warning album. While I find it hard to believe that Neck Deep is somehow going to become even more ridiculously popular, I don’t think that this political shift is going to cost them any fandom, and if anything, is going to allow for continued success. Blink-182 can still make great albums about relationships and break-ups, but it’s hard to make a long lasting career off of that content.
Only a couple more weeks until this album is released, so don’t forget to pre-order the album on your music service of choice, or even order one of the merch bundles available. You can check out their singles on the Hopeless Records YouTube channel and prepare for, hopefully, a new album tour with a Toronto date. Hint hint.
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