State Champs’ fifth album finds the Albany band relishing in pop-punk’s glory years.
When blink-182 released their eponymous fifth album in 2003, it marked a transition for the pop-punk powerhouses that few others in the genre have managed. Which is to say they matured, both musically and lyrically, from potty-mouth juveniles into something with a little more depth and darkness (albeit with some dick and fart jokes still in tow). It’s a rare occurrence in a scene that glorifies youthful, reckless abandon – The Wonder Years are perhaps the most successful example of that graduation, but the vast majority of bands are stuck at high school, held back year after year after year.
Musically, State Champs haven’t matured that much on this fifth record. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though – their spiky and spunky, feisty and infectious songs have always captured the aforementioned youthful, reckless abandon perfectly. But by coupling that energy with frontman Derek DiScanio’s heartbreak-on-sleeve lyrics – as well as his impassioned delivery – State Champs have been able to pass their yearly exams. Opener The Constant is an effective explosion of bitterness about a failed relationship, while both Silver Cloud (with its hints of Wheatus and Lit) and Clueless (with its blink-esque riffs) are both catchy, hooky earworms worthy of repeat listens.
That said, both could easily be off the American Pie soundtrack, which was – shockingly – released a quarter of a century ago. In other words, despite some mature and intelligent lyrics, it feels pretty business as usual. Again, not necessarily a bad thing. Light Blue and Too Late To Say are slickly produced laments about lost love designed for huge sing-alongs, and Sobering both reaches for and runs from the darkest parts of post-relationship self-medication.
Rather than an overhaul of who and what they are, State Champs is an album that doubles down on what the band do so well, which is offering a refuge within their songs that’s simultaneously fun, poignant and meaningful. That’s nowhere more in evidence than on last track Golden Years, which soars with passion and intention as nostalgia, regret and hope for the future mix majestically to create a truly potent finale.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: blink-182, Wheatus, Neck Deep
State Champs is out now via Pure Noise
Read this: State Champs: “We’re starting to find who we are as a band and the story we want to tell”
