Review Summary: Happy Judgement Day.
Neck Deep are the current standard-bearers of UK Pop Punk, and with two critically acclaimed debut albums under their belt and a huge fanbase, their third LP, The Peace and The Panic bore a lot of expectation on it's shoulders.
Did it manage to live up to any of that?
No, not really.
The album itself opens strongly, Motion Sickness kicking off with a strong, pacy opening riff, and carrying on in traditional Neck Deep style with the standard pop punk lyricism and a strong vocal performance from vocalist Ben Barlow. But even here, arguably at one of the album's strongest moments, the cracks are starting to show; the layered vocals and artificial guitar crescendos giving off a strong whiff of a track hampered by it being overproduced. Otherwise, the beefy guitars and catchy chorus exhibit one of Neck Deep's strongest moments in their discography, and the change in pace on Happy Judgement Day again, somewhat plays to the band's strengths. Trading relentless optimism for a shade of Sum 41-esque grit, the second track offers a fresh lyrical topic for Neck Deep; politics. Despite a strong start, a lack of any real subtlety rears its head in the lyrics of this song, lines like 'stop the world, I'm getting off' feeling like they belong on Tumblr, not on a song posing as a burning indictment of what's wrong with the planet. The key change at the tail end of the track buries what started as an interesting foray into a harder edged sound not seen on LNOTGY, and from here on in, Neck Deep's strong moments become difficult to find.
The next trio of tracks; The Grand Delusion, Parachute and In Bloom, offer a selection of distinctly average, mid-tempo, slightly sappy pop punk cliches. Lines like 'I'd rather be anyone else but me', 'I wanna break out and get away' and 'We're never going to put the pieces back together if you won't let me get better' really expose the crux of this album, creatively speaking. It's just drenched in ideas, lyrical and musical, that are so overdone, so well trodden, that when executed with this level of mediocrity become frankly cringe-worthy.
The sucker punch comes on track 6: Don't Wait. With Sam Carter on guest vocals, this track had the chance to bring back Neck Deep's harder edge in full force; to reinvigorate the fire that had written songs like All Hype, No Heart and Zoltar Speaks. The only thing this song did was prove that this album doesn't really know what it wants to do at all. Carter's vocal performance is excellent, as per usual, but feels tacked on as an afterthought: Neck Deep just don't hit hard enough, either with Barlow's vocal delivery, West and Thorpe's riffing or Dani Washington's drumming. A song the band themselves hyped as one to dispel criticism of their 'going soft' in itself proves just that.
Critical Mistake, track number 7, feels like pop-punk wallpaper paste, not technically bad, just nothing special or interesting in particular, the same criticism equally applying to Heavy Lies. Between these two is Neck Deep's obligatory sad acoustic track, Wish You Were Here, lacking in the anthemic chorus of previous equivalent December, failing even to replicate or better the whiny charm of A Part of Me.
The cherry on this quadruplet cake of mediocrity is 19 Seventy Sumthin'. The irritating pop-rock clap-driven beat, the once again lackluster lyricism, and overproduced backing vocals are topped off with some truly unnecessary syncopated piano, crowning 19 Seventy... as the first truly bad song on the album. Whilst 'Where Do We Go When We Go' salvages Neck Deep a bit of pride with it's strong riffs, fun and catchy chorus, and at least passable lyricism, the damage had been done long before the closer.
Without shadow of a doubt, this is Neck Deep's weakest effort. Toothless and all-too-often lacking the rawness, pace and energy that brought this band to where they are, The Peace and The Panic serves up a myriad of mediocrity, with the occasional strong track counterbalanced by an equivalent low point in the track listing. For all the good the opener and closer do, as well as the somewhat entertaining Happy Judgement Day, songs like 19 Seventy Sumthin', Parachute or In Bloom expose a band trying something new with a poppier and lighter tone, and failing rather embarrassingly. Musically this album is mediocre; lyrically speaking, it borders on very, VERY poor. With so much potential, uniqueness and energy showcased on their first two albums, it has to be said that The Peace and The Panic is a lighter experiment that has proved unsuccessful, and leaves with the sinking feeling that Neck Deep's best songwriting days may be behind, not in front of them.
