If there's a Gaslight Anthem-shaped hole in your heart after that band announced an indefinite hiatus a couple years back, perhaps The Menzingers' fifth album can ease your suffering a bit. That's not to say that they're a clone of the Jersey rockers, but they do follow a similar motif; their punky, ragged racket is lyrically boosted with hard luck tales of twenty-somethings becoming thirty-somethings in the urban wastelands of America. These nostalgic, heart-on-sleeve litanies are well tread ground, to be sure, but there's something wholly endearing about the way The Menzingers weave the experience together on After the Party . There are glimpses of greatness throughout their discography, and previous LP Rented World was of a high enough quality that an album as consistently energetic and engaging as After the Party doesn't come off as a complete surprise. Still, it is heartening to hear a band with so much potential live up to it in such convincing fashi...
SOMEHOW STILL A THING