Special: First Listen Thoughts: Waterparks "FANDOM", Issues "Beautiful Oblivion" and Sleep On It "Pride & Disaster"

Waterparks - FANDOM

Label: Hopeless Records

Press Release: FANDOM, the third full-length from Waterparks (and first on Hopeless Records), and produced by Zakk Cervini (Good Charlotte, Beartooth), is an eclectic and enigmatic collection of songs that include the aforementioned “Watch What Happens Next” and the frenetic, tornado-like, “Turbulent” that was released in late May.

My thoughts: At this point it's obvious Waterparks will always be trying something new and FANDOM is riddled with new toys and tricks for the band to use. Awsten Knight went as far as to say that he almost scrapped a song (Telephone) because it was originally just a plain pop punk song but instead evolved it into something sonically different. There's still dashes of songs you can imagine being on their previous releases but layered in such a way that they also would seem out of place. Overall it listens very well the first time through, it'll be interesting if it can stand up to the other 2 full lengths over time however.

Issues - Beautiful Oblivion

Label: Rise Records

Press Release: Issues will release a new album, "Beautiful Oblivion", on October 4 via Rise Records. The disc takes the band's signature cocktail of metallic groove, hip-hop aplomb, alternative echoes, and edgy pop appeal a step further. The Atlanta band has delivered an instantly irresistible collection of anthems where singer Tyler Carter's nimble delivery seamlessly slips from R&B swagger into hard-hitting heaviness.

My thoughts: I don't think there is a better way to describe this record then "Heavy Pop". A lot was made of Issues kicking out screamer Michael Bohn before this 3rd record was recorded and although the 2 first singles were undeniably heavy, the album as a whole has a heavy pop influence even in some of the songs that have the heavy guitar riffs, Tyler Carter's soulful voice layers on top of it beautifully giving us some of Issues best work but only time will tell if their fanbase will get on board with this new sound.

Sleep On It - Pride & Disaster

Label: Equal Vision Records

Press Release: Pride & Disaster is the follow-up to 2017’s Overexposed, and features production by Mike Green and Kyle Black. With Pride & Disaster, Sleep On It harnesses the strength and vulnerability of the human spirit. Over the course of ten songs, they makes a case for enjoying life, even when times are tough, and never shying away from your truth. The positivity found throughout Pride & Disaster adds a silver lining to an album that is also unafraid to address the problems that many, including the band, face with mental health.

My thoughts: My last installment of this series praised all 3 bands for evolving their sound while still harking back to their earlier works. Sleep On It's 2nd album is cut from a similar clothe although the evolution isn't as drastic, it works. Pride & Disaster fires on all cylinders as the album is full of hit after hit and is a contender for Album of the Year after only one listen. Zech's voice is the highlight just above the improved harmonies and musicianship. If Overexposed was the gold standard, this might be the platinum standard.

Special: Ranking Waterparks "Entertainment"

What's good everybody. Today we're going to do something new as I'm going to look at an album and rank the tracks from worst to best, today's album is the last release from the Houston band Waterparks in honour of their new album Fandom dropping in October but before we look ahead, let's look into the past at Entertainment...

10. Crybaby

Track 9 on Entertainment is the obvious worst. It's the only track I actively skip on this album and for good reason. Although I can appreciate that the band was trying to experiment a bit with new sounds in ends up not being great, worst of all they crammed it in with Not Warriors on the music video. I must say the shorter version of Crybaby in the video is better since it only amounts to less than a minute with most of that instrumentation. But the crime there was cutting out half of Not Warriors.

9. Lucky People

Track 6 on Entertainment lands at #9 on my countdown, this was also the 2nd single released from the album and it's a fine tune still as the drop off from Crybaby to this is big but still something had to clock in here and after much thought it had to be this slow jam about Awsten's then girlfriend, who their previous album Double Dare was mostly dedicated to, before breaking up halfway through writing Entertainment.

8. Sleep Alone

The closing track to Entertainment is once again not a bad song at all, it's very upbeat and fun despite the lyrics being mostly dark until the chorus pops in with Awsten singing he'll come to this person so they won't ever have to sleep alone. The reason this is so low is mostly due to placement on the album, by the time this song plays you've already been singing and dancing to tons of other upbeat songs that this one can't measure up to.

7. We Need To Talk

Track 4 on Entertainment survives the bottom third of the album but doesn't get any higher. We Need To Talk was not technically released as a single during Entertainment's life cycle but it did get a music video after the 3 actual singles did which featured Awsten in Zombie makeup. The song is one of a few that was written after Awsten's breakup. It's a mid-tempo jam which I normally love but this one just couldn't hit that next level for me.

6. TANTRUM

Track 8 on Entertainment hits hard. This is probably the loudest Waterparks has ever been and will ever be. As you can guess by the songs name and the all caps stylelization this song is very angry and Awsten names the person this song is mostly about (Cam) and then states he'll keep the others nameless before adding a fuck it and naming Richard, Clayton, John and Will as well. Angry Awsten is great but this song is very hard to sing along to since Awsten can sing it all very fast.

5. 11:11

The opening track on Entertainment, 11:11 sets the tone for the entire album. It's fast, it's upbeat it deals with the main theme (luck). The lyrics are infectious, the pre-chorus especially as I can not stop singing it after even just one listen. It officially cracks the top 5, but that really doesn't do it justice. This album is just that strong that an awesome track like this can only barely squeeze into the top 50%.

4. Peach (Lobotomy)

Peach is the 3rd track on Entertainment and also got an unofficial single release as the final music video off the album seen a release about a year ago now as it was a live video the band filmed while on the final cross country Warped Tour. The song is a love song about the struggles of a long distance relationship and the lobotomy context is because the girl is all Awsten thinks about. It's a mid-tempo jam that just misses the top 3.

3. Rare

The highest ranking non single on Entertainment is track 7, Rare, which gets into the top 3 on the strength of it's overall catchiness. Another love song, Rare once again touches on the subject of the difficulty of long distance relationships and lyrically it is probably the strongest on the album which you discover right from the first line, "I save my metaphors for rainy days" which in itself is a metaphor. Awsten Knight you clever bastard...

2. Blonde

Well it took this long but finally at #2 we have the first instance where the song ranking mirrors it's tracklisting number on the album. Blonde was the lead single for the album as it most mirrored their previous albums even referencing their earlier EP Crave in the song. Awsten has gone on record saying Blonde is about a number of things but mostly it's about the difficulty of being in a touring band. Awsten also stated this song was being written when him and his girlfriend broke up which is why, tonally, the song is everywhere.

1. Not Warriors

The third and final official single from Entertainment was track 5, Not Warriors. This should not surprise anyone as this song got into #2 on my top songs of 2018 despite the aforementioned Crybaby bit in the video which may just have held it back from getting the #1 spot. This song also is a love song (shocking right?) that has nods to both Lucky People and Sleep Alone in it which makes it lyrically interesting. The musicianship is perfect making this an absolute bop being too punk for the pop kids but too pop for the punk kids which is right in my wheelhouse.