“Do you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?”
Pop punk’s fiery re-entry into the mainstream pop landscape in the past few years has been an interesting trend to follow. Presumably chalked up to the fact that many of the world’s leading faces in the pop world likely grew up listening to artists like Green Day, Blink-182, Avril Lavigne and even later-stage bands like Paramore, the catchy, peppy and energetic sound of the genre has made its way back into the cultural consciousness fairly swiftly. This convergence is certainly the case with Maggie Lindemann‘s latest work.
After a surprisingly grandiose and gorgeous string-led intro, SUCKERPUNCH drops into Lindemann’s heaviest song to date in “take me nowhere”. A more post-hardcore-twinged affair, replete with tasteful chugging, chromatic riffing and some double kick action in its semi-breakdown section, SUCKERPUNCH opens strong with one of the album’s strongest and fiercest cuts. The way Lindemann’s hyper-melodious vocals soar over the track’s heavy, chromatic instrumentation creates this sense of emotional weight to the whole thing, giving SUCKERPUNCH the necessary first blow to hook listeners in for the ride.
Depending on your perspective, what follows could be considered a downturn in outward creativity, as following tracks “she knows it” and “casualty of your dreams” certainly follow the more tried-and-tested pop-twinged pop-punk style that Lindemann has worked to develop over the past couple of years since PARANOIA. These are by no means bad songs, though, and Lindemann’s vocal performance across both tracks stands out greatly. However, particularly in the former of the two tracks, the stellar performance is in service of a track that feels incredibly lyrically juvenile. While the idea of unrequited love is certainly not a foreign topic within music of this style, the way in which Lindemann awkwardly phrases certain themes within the lyrics here comes across as relatively hamfisted, and could have potentially benefitted from some revisions with more consideration of diction and flow.
While further cuts like the noisy, attitudey “girl next door”, and the gorgeously yearning “we never even dated” show a creative sonic expanse in a similar light to “take me nowhere”, much of SUCKERPUNCH carries a relatively samey aesthetic. These prove to yield mixed results on an individual level and as a collection of songs; while many of these songs provide catchy hooks and great performances, I can’t help but feel much of it blends into one. Even some of those that break the mould across SUCKERPUNCH‘s lengthy 15-track run do so in a less creatively satisfying way, such as trap-metal-infused industrial pop track “break me”, which sees Lindemann’s long-time creative partner Siiickbrain provide a more aggressive vocal performance. While I found quite an affinity for the pulsating electronics and melodies found in “break me”, the frenetic screamed hook in the track sapped much of my enthusiasm right out of it, and struck me as a creative decision that should’ve been left on the cutting room floor.
While there are numerous issues I have with the album as a whole, it’s pretty undeniable that Lindemann’s vocal performance here is almost always fantastic. Her downright gorgeous vocal tone, combined with her penchant for incredibly infectious melodies, make the experience of most of SUCKERPUNCH a positive one, even if the performances are often in service of some juvenile, underdeveloped lyricism and some overly repetitive aesthetic choices. These conflicting notions make for an album experience in SUCKERPUNCH that, while ending up a net positive as stated, leaves me with the feeling that this all could have been executed better. Perhaps the shorter-form style of PARANOIA fit Lindemann’s writing style better, allowing her to focus her efforts on crafting a smaller package of more compelling work. I say that largely because, strictly from a standpoint of brevity, SUCKERPUNCH falls relatively flat in comparison. That said, many of her most electrifying and earwormy tracks to date live on here — they’re just housed in a package that’s too long and lacking in concision for its own good.
6.5/10
SUCKERPUNCHER will be available this Friday, September 16th, and you can pre-order it here.