Review Summary: EGGY POCKET is scrambled and yokey, but not burnt or runny.
If you have ever been on Reddit, you may have heard of “r/THE_PACK”. It is an obscure corner of the site dedicated to over-the-top masculinity with a mix of satire and a dash of surreal, mostly centered around mixing “edgy” art with ridiculous meme text. It is hard to describe in words the type of environment this subreddit is, however it is where I was introduced to Bilmuri, or should I say re-introduced.
Bilmuri, aka Johnny Franck, was a member of a band that I haven't listened to in almost a decade: Attack Attack!. I had been a fan of the band in high school at the height of their popularity, basking in their crabcore glory. However, lineup changes, including the departure of Franck, marked the point in time where I drifted away from the band and lost track of the members' endeavors. This all changed when I saw a post on r/THE_PACK promoting a new song from a recognizable face from my past. The song, aptly titled “ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYMF'INHOG” fully embraced the deep-fried pocket of the internet and brought a legitimate anthem for this group of people, and left me curious to hear more.
In a Youtube video, Franck spoke about the music scene (primarily addressing the hardcore/scene section of music) and how it has become stale and generic, relying on predictable breakdowns and basic chord progression which left the listener knowing what they are going to hear before they even hear it. With this in mind, I embarked on a journey into the weird and crunchy mind of Franck and his current vision of the growth of music style that he had been involved with for the better part of a decade.
Does EGGY POCKET deliver on his promise to differentiate and separate from the predictable and overdone? Well, mostly. There are elements of the hardcore/scene culture that Franck is familiar with, while enveloping his own quirkiness into it. Tracks like “ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYMF'INHOG” and “POSTALMONDCLARITY” incorporate current hardcore and prog-metal elements while sprinkling in slivers of jazz, trap, glitch, ambient and even western. The album is full of callbacks to screamo and gave me flashbacks to the days of Attack Attack! while tying it together with prevailing trends in 2020 hardcore. EGGY POCKET also has strong hooks that feel familiar but evolved, although they are not the most groundbreaking aspects of the music. Features from Dayseeker and Jon Mess (Dance Gavin Dance) on “FLUORIDEINTHEHARDSELTZERWATER” make it apparent that his connections within the scene have not prevented Bilmuri from exploring new territory within the genre(s). Overall, the composition of each track seem genuine, cared for, and somehow nostalgic.
However, based on Franck's idea of breaking the mold within the music scene, there are some hangups on here. The weakest track, “ISERIOUSLYDISLIKEMOSTOTHERHUMANS” feels out of place when compared to the rest of the tracklist, as it strikes as a contradiction to his goal. This song is fairly one-note, with elements of posthardcore and metalcore, but not much else. Had Franck incorporated more differentiating qualities as he did with other tracks, it may have mesh better with the rest of the songs. However, these faults are not common on the album, and I feel that Franck kept his promise as best he could.
With a 21-minute-long run time, this album does not overstate its welcome and does not attach itself to qualities that would drive listeners away. In fact, EGGY POCKET is a window into the mind of just a regular guy with a surreal sense of humor and his desire to make fun music. Is this album a satire? Kind of. Is it weird? Yes. But, is it fun? ABSOLUTELY. A great album to chill and eat scrambled eggs out of your jacket pocket to, and maybe crank your hog to.
