Source: Album Artwork
Youth In Revolt are a band that have been through a medley of line-up and sound changes through the years, so the announcement of their debut album The Broken will have left fans wondering what to expect from the five piece from New Jersey.
Constantly treading the line somewhere between hardcore and pop-punk The Broken has certainly been worth the wait. The intoxicating combination of soaring, high-pitch vocals and gritty, aggressive screams with guitar riffs and basslines that just won’t quit runs throughout The Broken. The theme sticks tightly to angst and rebellion, and there are undertones of revolution throughout the album, particularly in the title track which was released just before the US presidential election.
‘Not Giving Up’ and ‘There For You’ are the best songs on the album, and are packaged up ready to be released as singles. These tracks demonstrate the powerful vocals that give Youth In Revolt their edge, but the band put instruments at the forefront of their music. This is refreshing to see, and experimentation with instruments also works nicely. ‘Alright’ has a lot of electronic elements, including the use of autotune, which works quite nicely.
There are two more acoustic tracks on the album; ‘Brisbane’ and ‘Only One’, and they both sound very nice. There’s nothing wrong with them whatsoever, but there’s nothing that you wouldn’t find on any other pop-punk or hardcore album. It is nice to see vocalist Tanner Allen put his voice to very good use in these songs, and it shows his true talent, but there’s nothing ground-breaking here. That’s easily forgivable when you consider how good the rest of the album is.
The Broken is an album made by a band that know exactly what they are doing – and exactly what they are aiming for. If there’s any justice in the world, the debut will win Youth In Revolt a league of fans, and they’ll be climbing their way up festival line-ups over the next year. It’s not even 2017 yet, and this might just be a contender for the best album of next year. Do yourself a favour, and pick up a copy of The Broken when it is released on January 20, 2017.
