All Distortions Are Intentional - Neck Deep: Review

Neck Deep

is a Welsh pop punk band who emerged in the second half of the 2010's as a new voice in the genre pulling heavily from bands like Fall Out Boy and Blink 182. Their true to form pop punk sound has found success with both old and new fans of the genre. 

Review By Lavender:

Normally this band wouldn't really be my thing and if not for a killer recommendation from a good friend I may not even have known about the group at all. That recommendation was to listen to the bands 2015 sophomore record Life's Not Out To Get You which featured some of the most instantaneous songwriting and fiery emotionally rich performances I had ever heard on a pop punk album. Unfortunately that great album stands alone in their discography as despite having 2 albums and more worth of other material not much has resonated with me. After the records 2nd single really resonated with me I got my hopes up that this record may be a return to the bands high, but the result wasn't it. 

First lets talk about the records other singles, and tracks I didn't much care for.  Lowlife was the lead single and it never really gets past the vocals. Frontman Ben Barlow is putting some real effort into screaming without actually being loud or abrasive in any way and the result is just bad singing, although the songwriting wouldn't have saved it either. Fall came next and even though I like some of the harsher vocal passages in the verses the hook is a total miss. The woah-oh-oh vocals are much more annoying than catchy and harness some major melodrama that I'm just not into. The last single I didn't love was Sick Joke although the song isn't terrible and the performances are solid. the track just did nothing to really grab me and felt like a weird choice for a single even though it makes a fine deep cut here. 

Quarry is a short interlude style track that you should avoid at all cost unless you wanna hear the band embarrassingly try to write a 1975 song. What Took You So Long is my least favorite song on the record with very whiny lyrics that are insanely annoying and a hook the is painfully dry. Finally there's Empty House a song that kicks off with some ballad like sentiments and performance but kind of blows up in its own face as it tries to transition into a really hammed up hook that sounds so awkward. After having a pretty good start it fails to be one of the more genuine songs here. 

There were a pair of singles for the record that I enjoyed quite a bit starting with the song that got me hooked on the record When You Know. What a great hook, it kicks off with that great "Sunshine, we don't belong here" refrain and reminds me a ton of some of my favorite tracks from Life with its great hook and funny lyrics. I Revolve came out just last week and sounds like a pop punk classic straight out of the 2000's. It carries out the emotional rawness that the record has over its last few tracks which made me like it even more here than I did as a single. 

The opening track Sonderland is another big highlight as an edgy but unmistakably energetic way to kick the album off. There is a snarl to the song that feels very genuine yet the songwriting is still sweet enough to get stuck in your head. Telling Stories has grown on me a lot with it's chugging uptempo riffs alongside some midwest sounding acoustics. The chorus is an absolutely killer explosion that I think is pretty catchy and I think the track sentiment is strong and quintessentially pop punk. Little Dove is a much much better attempt at an acoustic ballad which actually commits to the style and pulls it off well. Finally the closer Pushing Daisies is one of the albums grandest statements with arena sized guitar and vocals. While the bridge is a little bit much for me I think everything else works and I love the scorched earth approach to ending the record off. 

All Distortions Are Intentional is better than Neck Deep's last record but it still fails to live up to their best. With inconsistent songwriting and performances throughout the best thing the record has going for it is it's highlights and how truly they stick to pop punks history. The band does just enough on this album for me to maintain some hope that they will one day return to best form, but for now there isn't too much here I'm excited to return to. 5.5/10

Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:

This cover in minimal but it's vibrant color make it seem like much more is happening in the composition. The subject itself is nicely rendered and has a lot of texture included in the small object. The placement and size of he text also works well. While it's successful it doesn't generally excite me in any way. 5/10

For more pop punk check out my review of Green Day's Father Of All here