Review Summary: A promising debut from what will hopefully be modern rock's figureheads.
Johnny Stevens is a fucking rock star.
I’ll say it again.
Johnny Stevens is a fucking rock star, one that we desperately need. We don’t have rock stars anymore in the music industry, not when the biggest representatives of the genre in popular culture are lame pretty-boys like Imagine Dragons and X Ambassadors, who barely qualify as “rock” to begin with. This is a man who was asked to become the new lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, for Christ’s sakes. In fact, he even had the
cojones to turn them down, and for good reason. Highly Suspect have quickly risen to the top of the modern rock world, touring with bands like Deftones and Chevelle, charting in the top five of Billboard’s rock charts and earning themselves multiple Grammy nods when just a year ago they were struggling to make it big in the slums of Brooklyn.
Now, many may be wondering exactly what caused Highly Suspect’s rapid ascent to fame. Well, it mostly boils down to one reason – in case you forgot, Johnny Stevens is a fucking rock star. He commands the band with such energy and swagger, recalling the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll MO that elevated the rock stars of the past to godly status. He brings the fire, and the rest of the band adds to the flame. Stevens’ aura resonates right off the bat in
Mister Asylum, with the title track kicking everything into gear. It’s a microcosm of the album to come, as a highly fuzzed riff sets the tone milliseconds before Stevens enters. When Stevens yelps out, “I’m losing my shit!”, he just sells it with the raw firepower that comes with his vocals. He plays the guitar with as much as energy as he sings, and the distorted riffing adds onto the rock-star swagger that he projects into his music.
The rest of
Mister Asylum is much like its title track, and Johnny Stevens’ electric stage presence is the domineering force. This is forty minutes of pure, raw, unadulterated rock-and-roll, drawing influence from the sound of blues rock, the energy of grunge and the riffs of stoner rock, creating a sound that is both throwback and modern at once. Even on slower-tempo tracks like their breakthrough single “Lydia”, the band shine with its crushing Josh Homme-inspired guitar part and Ryan Meyer’s ferocious drumming. The tension that has brewed throughout the song culminates in one glorious release of “I can’t fucking breathe!”, and all the anger and hostility that has been bursting through the seams tears open and gets cranked up to eleven, leading to the track’s roaring, epic culmination. Throughout the entirety of the album, the younger Meyer twin’s relentless percussion work contributes heavily to the fierce aura that the record gives off. Tracks like “Fuck Me Up” and “Claudeland” are where he shines, with his no-holds-barred drumming amplifying the vigor of the song, even giving it somewhat of a danceable rhythm.
Above all,
Mister Asylum is nothing more than a fun record to listen to. Stevens’ charisma as a frontman definitely helps, but Highly Suspect can get by on just their sheer energy alone. While the band mostly sticks to the same formula throughout the duration of the whole album, it’s a formula that clearly works. The riffs are memorable, the vocals are drenched in swagger and the lyrics are simple enough to not analyze too hard but not too simple that they feel lazily written. Highly Suspect have a bright future in front of them, and it’s looking like they are going to become the next big thing in the modern rock world. Fuck ‘em up, boys.
