Photo Credit: Ian Laidlaw

Aussie punks Violent Soho return with their fifth studio album Everything Is A-Okay, via Pure Noise Records. Although the world seems to be in a place that is completely opposite of the album title, the message we should take from it is that despite the mass quarantine and anxiety surrounding the pandemic crisis, music from our favorite bands will always be an escape. Violent Soho has given us a tranquil and more relaxed record, that still contains the notorious Mansfield kick where it’s needed.

The album opens with “Sleep Year” which contains 90s-rock vibes, similar to The Smashing Pumpkins’ sound, with its opening instrumental riff. Once you hear frontman Luke Boerdam’s whiny vocals begin, you know this is going to be a fan favorite, and future classic. The song’s punchiness holds the potential of being the band’s new opening song for future live shows. This is definitely a mosh pit prompting rock song. The next track “Vacation Forever” continues the momentum that “Sleep Year” started, and will undoubtedly be another fan favorite (although I’m convinced the entire album will be a huge hit amongst fans and critics alike). The track has got everything you hope for from the guys with regard to flashing back to their earlier releases. Fans will surely get a kick out of copying Boerdam’s vocals when singing along, and there is a lot of room on this track to do so. 

The record seamlessly flows into the third track “Pick It Up Again,” which was given to us prior to the release of the album, along with a quality music video that makes fans all smiley. The video is a classic Aussie music video – featuring some splendid acting from the guys, showing them eagerly trying to sell their religion – their new album. The band is shown knocking on someone’s door, and when it opens the band tells them not to be alarmed, introduces themselves, and sings an acapella version of “Pick It Up Again” along with Mikey, the drummer, providing the beat on a music case. 

Track number four, “Canada,” slows things down as an ode. It’s a slow-vibey jam that’ll make you want to roll your windows down while driving around town with the volume cranked all the way up (just wait until quarantine is lifted, please?). “Shelf Life” is a more feel-good track. It has got that kind of sound you expect from an Australian rock band, but Australian’s would understand that much better than my New York born-and-raised self. The song has the kind of sound that is calm and relaxed. If you can appreciate the band’s talent of interchanging a rough chorus to a stripped back verse, then you are in for a treat with “Shelf Life.” 

“Slow Down Sonic” comes next – the slowed down acoustic jam of the record – and of course another track you will want to blast through your car stereo. “Lying on the Floor” follows up “Slow Down Sonic” in a mood boosting way – shedding light on the need to showcase our lives through the shallow lens of social media, which is evident in the lyrics “I don’t wanna be fake/All these things that I say/Keep pulling my skin/Just let me out.” The song gives off the vibe of wanting to relate to those you surround yourself with, so you join the conversation or movement just to feel included despite having different views on it. “Harsh reflection on the way the world has become obsessed with creating social media simulacra where everyone is repping their own ‘brand’, and how connection is fleeting and shallow. It ponders the ideas of agency, emotion and how they’re being sold to advertise who we want people to think we are, not who we actually are,” is what the band included in the albums’ footnotes.

Up next is “Easy” which greets you with rough guitar riffs, where the three guitarists, Boerdam, Tids, and Henery give us their all – fueled by one another’s energy, “Easy” is easily perfection. “Pity Jar” is the albums’ climax track and yet, it would have made for a great closing track. The song contains catchy lyrics, whiny vocals and wild guitar parts, encompassing that signature Violent Soho sound fans have fallen in love with over the years. 

The final track “A-Ok” strips down everything we have heard prior. The song slows down with a tranquil and relaxed atmosphere – that feels like a misfit among the albums’ other tracks. James Tidswell mentioned, while co-hosting Wall Of Sound: Up Against The Wall that the band was trying new and different things with this record, showing a more mature side with their songwriting capabilities. Once you get to this track, after sitting back and jamming out to the rest of the album, remember the title of the track, and the message the album title also gives, that despite all the craziness going on around the world at this very moment, everything should turn out A-OK in your life once you obtain clarity for your future. 

Everything Is A-OK is Violent Soho’s most profound and genuine project to date – proving they are the number one in the Australian grunge/alt-rock scene.