Written by Brandon George
“Earth is a Black Hole,” the sophomore album from Los Angeles Alternative Rock band Teenage Wrist, is a dark, gripping journey through the existential and romantic crises that grip us in our worst moments. Released February 12th from Epitaph Records and punctuated by roving pop-punk anthems and grungy anguished romps, the album is a riveting listen from start to finish.
The production of the album is drenched in the same level of polish and clarity that brings to mind recent releases from Manchester Orchestra. This intriguing idea of creating grunge and hard rock and infusing it with pop-style production creates this mixture of harshness and clarity that isn’t often seen in the contemporary sphere.
Alongside this engrossing production, there are frequent moments on the record wherein the instrumentation strips away to reveal the bare emotion of Gallagher’s pleading cries. These moments, combined with the complex lyricism that explores both the darkness and hope found in times of great peril, highlight the album’s overall expression of those ideals.
The record starts with a rollicking series of riffs interspersed with a collection of overlapping samples reciting the album’s title in clipped tones. After the opener, “Taste of Gasoline” and “New Emotion” have the kick of pop-punk excitement that drives the album into its darker moments like a preparatory build-up. The choruses boast catchy melodies and shoutable lyrics, with “New Emotion” even sporting a series of infectious chants during moving post-choruses drenched in reverb.
Tracks like “Wear You Down” highlight the band’s versatility, beginning as quiet ruminations backed by slide guitar and the jangling of acoustic guitar and building into an anthemic recitation of the eponymous lyric. Similarly, “High Again” implements a symbiotic relationship between grooving electronic drums and hectic live kit from verse to chorus. The changeup aids the juxtaposition from the rational, cool statements of the verses and then the desperate pleads of “Oh no / Oh no” in the chorus.
“Yellowbelly” and “Wear You Down” are much slower songs, with a rolling gait that emphasizes their more romantic lyrical content. These songs keep consistent with the album’s themes, presenting relationships that are messy and complicated.
Splitting up these songs is “Silverspoon,” a standout track that begins with a bluesy, roving guitar riff and transitions into quiet and cooperative guitars climbing atop one another while vocalist Marshall Gallagher laments the continued complexity of love. Finishing the middle of the album is “Wasting Time,” the pop-punk punctuation before the album’s dramatic finale.
The title track ended up one of my favorites on the record and is, incidentally, the darkest song on the album. In that way, it’s very much the climax to the record’s ruminations on hope and despair.
The lyrics dip and dive from haunting observations such as, “we are made to feel ashamed,” to the damning declarations of the refrain, repeatedly asking the rhetorical question, “where do we go when the river runs dry?” Going into the final chorus, the band pauses, allowing the vocals to enter alone before slamming in together, jerking the listener into the newfound excitement of the finale.
“Stella” comes as a proper conclusion should. It begins far more sparse than many of the tracks on the record but no less grand.
The only explosions of sound come in the form of brief electronic drums pounding like a heartbeat thrashing in a ribcage. The song carries an ominous tone throughout, the same delicate balance between hopefulness and fear that the rest of the album has alluded to.
The song leaves the listener with the final words of, “This is everything / Hold onto me / I’ll never feel this way again / I’ll never feel the same again.” Finally, the band builds in increasingly distorted guitars, a moment that truly makes the listener wish for the viability of live performances to return sooner than later and encapsulates the philosophy and energy of the album as a whole.
Teenage Wrist doesn’t end up coming to a conclusion on whether we should be hopeful or we should despair. Instead, they leave us with the knowledge that, whether we should choose to believe in the goodness of continued persistence, or surrender into darkness, the only thing we know in confidence is where we are and how we feel right now.
“Earth is a Black Hole” is available wherever music is streaming and can be found alongside merch on the band’s Bandcamp page. You can follow the band on Twitter @TeenageWrist and let us know what you thought of the album at @lgndsoftmrw!
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