My Chemical Romance ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'' (2004)

My Chemical Romance is one of those bands you listen as a teen, cringe at after a year and then come back to later on to wallow in it's nostalgia and find a new appreciation for it's edgy lyrics and emo/screamo influences. Although this album is MCR's second release they ditched a large part of the screamo that made up their debut album ''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love''. 

With 12 songs, and interlude and 39 minutes of listening time this album is jampacked with incredible songs, personal favourites would be ''Helena", the first track on this record, it immediately sets the mood with dark tones and mystifying vibes. ''Give 'Em Hell, Kid'', which utilises this band's incredible instrumentals and Gerard Way's paralyzing vocals. And many other songs that I love, but the truth is, not a single one of these songs is lacklustre, all of them have their unique quirks and tones. Alt Rock, Emo, Post Hardcore and Punk Rock are all ways to describe this album and band but none of that quite does their revolutionary sound justice, thriving off of gnarly riffs and almost scary screams is something they excelled at, cementing their sound and the genre of emo. 

Shout along choruses, machine gun fast drumming, horror themes,  guitar with huge Metal influences, complex song structures and a generally raw feel created the incredible sound that is this My Chemical romance, even in songs that feel lighter like ''The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You'' we don't get given peace, we are still bombarded with catchy hooks and Metal tinged riffs, in a good way of course.

An album like this has so much you can say about it but I do not know enough about this record or it's history to write it all down for you, all I can say is that this 12 song masterpiece is a must listen to anyone

9/10

 PUP ''Morbid Stuff'' (2019)

Pup is a band I've found about a year ago now, with their explosive sound, earnest screams, and lyrics I could do nothing but love them, with their objectively amazing debut album ''PUP'' and the slightly more experimental and lacklustre ''The Dream Is Over'' I was interested what the next album would hold for me but I was pleasantly surprised to hear more of the same quirks that this band made their own. With heavy and angsty themes such as anxiety, depression and death and the Punk Rock sound this record holds was driven home further.

Utilising songs like ''Closure'' and ''See You At Your Funeral'' PUP addresses that having things left unsaid and that unhappy endings are always an inevitable part of life, along with other valuable life lessons, something the band felt necessary to do seeing they've gone through a few changes since their first album, mainly in numbers. 

With this record PUP refuses to be held back by the Pop Punk label often held against them, embracing pop-tinged melodies on ''See You At Your Funeral'' or going for the whole campfire sing-alongs on the start of ''Scorpion Hill'' and let's not forget to mention the incredible ''Full Blown Meltdown'' which tip toes the lines of Metal with their sludgy, heavy guitar and drums, this record does it all without shame. That's one of the many things to love about this album, frontman Stefan Babcock wasn't afraid to write about his struggle with mental health. Depression and anxiety isn't something to glorify and PUP talks about it the way they do best, through dark tones and tunes that go straight for the jugular.

The guitars are something to embrace from this 4 man band, even if lyrics get a little dull the guitar stays energetic and interesting throughout. PUP has had a knack for memorable riffs and small licks since their debut, on this record they've done it tighter, darker and better resulting in the catchy song ''Kids'' or like mentioned above the sludgy and heavy ''Full Blown Meltdown'', one of my personal favourites on this album. ''City'' also has a different tone for the majority of the song, slow drums and playful guitar strums over sad vocal tones only for the song to start building up around the 2 minute mark and crash into spastic breakdowns near the end. 

8/10