ALBUM REVIEW: Territories – Colder Now (Pirates Press Records)
Territories were formed in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta, in 2015 by four ex-members of melodic punk rockers Knucklehead, who’d called it a day a couple of years earlier.
Their self-titled debut album, full of thoughtful lyrics and compelling melodies, came out on Pirates Press Records in 2018, and I instantly fell in love with them.
Gang mentality
They seemed to have a real gang mentality, like The Clash did in my youth, and that debut album is one I’ve gone back to time and again over the last five years.
Since then they’ve released a six-song EP, When the Day is Done (reviewed here), as well as a split 7in with fellow Canadians The Vicious Cycles (reviewed here), and the one-sided single Short Seller (a playable vinyl CD!).
Now Territories have proved the first album was no fluke with a collection of 11 new songs just as good as the debut. In fact, frontman Kyle Hegel, guitarist Jimmy James, drummer Eric Jablonski and bassist Matt Young seem to be improving with age.
Colder Now is a record full of infectious hooks and singalong choruses, and only one track (No Ball And Chain) clocks in at more than three minutes, with most of them closer to two, and urgent opener Pacific Ghost not even reaching that.
Personal issues
The album mixes personal issues such as searching for your tribe in a new place (Hello Outsider) with broader societal themes, like struggling to find work in a dead-end town (The Company).
Do It Alone is a message of self-belief and empowerment, while lead single Superhero is about stepping up to make a difference, and 7lbs Of Hope is a new dad’s message to his poorly baby and its mother.
Hometown Calling feels like a sequel to previous single Quit This City, driven by insistent guitars and pounding drums, while the nostalgic 10A Street explores similar ground, while realising that “maybe we’re all fading, but old friends move on, they never die“.
Territories are one of those tuneful punk bands whose music carries a message, similar to Stiff Little Fingers, Leatherface and The Menzingers, and there’s even a hint of The Who in the intro to Powder Keg.
Standout track
They’re a band who pour heart and soul into their music, not least on standout track The Company, whose subject was a loyal worker for 18 years before their factory’s closure left them on the scrapheap.
You can almost taste the betrayal as Hegel sings: “The ones you trusted let you down/They sold the heart of this whole town/Now the young don’t stick around/They all just leave for better ground …. You want the future that you had/Before you woke up in the past.”
This is largely an upbeat album, apart from the melancholic No Ball & Chain and the closing Recognize The Game, which would both have been a good fit on the first album.
Territories are one of those bands whose music is instantly relatable, offering hope in even the bleakest of situations. I like them a lot, and this is an album of the year contender, right here. 9/10.
Colder Now is available digitally, or on neon orange or neon violet vinyl from Territories’ Bandcamp page HERE or directly from Pirates Press Records HERE.
