Pop Evil- Versatile Album Review: Disappointment, That is All
Pop Evil is a band that for years now has had a decent sized presence in the main stream rock scene ever since the late 2000’s with a plethora of mainstream hits. A band that I have also kept my eye on through the years. Mainly because when these guys decided they wanted to rock, they could actually do it, and do it real good. However, trying to be a fan of these guys has been a struggle ever since I have been listening to them. The main reason for this is that every single one of their albums is just a mix bag of great, good, bad and absolutely terrible songs. The frustration that comes out of me every time a Pop Evil album has been released has steadily increased in hopes that finally they will release a complete album that is good. However, here we are, another Pop Evil release, and now I’m ready send the entire computer out the fucking window.
I don’t understand what happens in the writing process for these guys. They always seem to know how to start off an album right. Just like the last album the first handful of tracks have some pretty hard and heavy instrumentation that varies between the different parts of the tracks. Decent vocal performances on top of that, and we are rolling strong. But for whatever reason they decided to just write some of the most annoying “rock” music in the middle of the album, and no I’m not even talking about the most hated song on the album “Work” which I will admit I actually kind of like. Yes it sounds like Imagine Dragons and Grandson came together to make a song but it’s really hard not to vibe with the instrumental on this song even just a little bit. I’m talking about the songs like “Stronger (The Time Is Now)” which sounds like an awful TRAPT song, yes an awful TRAPT song not just a normal TRAPT song. The chorus is absolutely annoying, the vocals just sound awful with this kind of song. We also have “Raise Your Flag” which sounds like a straight up Imagine Dragons ripoff from like the 2010’s. At this point I’d even say that Imagine Dragons may even find this sound to be outdated. These are just the worst tracks on this album as well. I didn’t even talk about tracks such as “Human Nature” which has just this weird rhythm throughout the song that I can’t even make out. It has like a southern rock twang to it in the riff that’s just ok. But I still just don’t want anything to do with it.
To give credit where credit is do, like I said before, the first three tracks are pretty great. “Let the Chaos Reign” and “Set Me Free” are pretty heavy songs to have open this album up. Hard hitting guitar riffs that are mixed pretty well I should add, they really do make sure that the instrumentation actually packs a punch on this album unlike the last one. Then you got some glitchy elements on the metalcore like song “Breathe Again” that I think are actually pretty kick ass. Later in the album to we have what might be some of the heaviest riffage these guys have done period on the track “Worst In Me.” Sure some of the glitchy elements on this track are a little excessive in the verses but the hard hitting instrumentation makes up for that tenfold especially on the bridge of this song.
The album ends off on a somewhat ok note, definitely a lot better than the middle part no doubt. “Same Blood” tries to be a song that’s sending a message about racism and how we should all seeing each other as equal, which is a great thing. But it just sounds cheesy with the poppy singing that is going on in the chorus of the track and makes the message not stand out the best. Then there’s a track at the very end titled “Fire Inside” and I don’t know why it is called this because it doesn’t sound like there is a lot of fire on the track but more of a warm ashes in a woodstove kind of a song. Was hoping for more of a hotter ending than that, but the song still has some decent instrumentation that makes it good enough to be an ok ending to the album.
Overall, this album was what I was expecting, and that was a disappointment. Yeah, that’s all I’ve really ever gotten from this band and will probably be like that forever as I will continue listening to their new albums in hope for that good Pop Evil album, which this is not.
3/10
BEST: Breath Again; Worst In Me
WORST: Stronger (The Time is Now)