ALBUM REVIEW: The Menzingers – Hello Exile (Epitaph Records)
Philadelphia-based punk band The Menzingers are back with their sixth studio album, and I’m pleased to report it’s business as usual.
Since forming as teenagers in 2006, the band have found a niche alongside The Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady as evocative storytellers, combining frenetic energy and songs full of relatable life experiences.
Hello Exile sees guitarists and co-vocalists Greg Barnett and Tom May, bassist Eric Keen, and drummer Joe Godino taking their talents to a whole new level.
They’ve long since perfected the knack of coming up with melodic, catchy and anthemic songs which retain the rawness of their punk rock roots.
Here, they take their lyrical narrative to a whole new level and share their reflections on moments from the past and present: high-school hellraising, troubled relationships, aging and alcohol.
I confess to being a little underwhelmed by the first couple of tracks released ahead of the album, America (You’re Freaking Me Out) and Anna: had The Menzingers lost the magic they displayed on 2012 masterpiece On The Impossible Past, or 2017’s equally-good After The Party?
The short answer is no, they haven’t. A band who somehow manage to encapsulate and convey the most extreme of human emotions, from heartache to rage, often within the same song, have come up with another absolute belter.
In the context of the whole album, those songs, which initially disappointed, almost assume different identities, and, as the first two tracks on the record, are instantly and reassuringly familiar.
The excellent High School Friend, which comes next, contains sentiments of the sort of nostalgic pangs most people will be able to relate to: “I was getting fucked up with a high school friend/Wondering where all the good times went…”
Strangers Forever, another track released ahead of the album, reflects on a failed relationship, combining spiky guitars with barbed lyrics, and concluding: “Maybe it’s for the best, we pretend like we never met/Forget everything that we’ve every known/Maybe it’s for the better, we both stay strangers forever.” Brutal but brilliant stuff.
The swaggering Portland is another warts-and-all examination of the ups and downs of being in love, “You wake up shaking in the middle of the night/A voice from the past that’s looking for a fight.”
I Can’t Stop Drinking examines the ruinous perils of seeking solace in the bottle, while Strawberry Mansion is an upbeat anthem packed with power chords and pounding drums which will sound fantastic live.
Packed with infectious hooks and displaying soul-baring intimacy throughout, Hello Exile might even go on to become my favourite Menzingers record. I think I just found my album of the year. 9/10.
