Review Summary: If Greta Van Fleet didnt kill rock, Judah and the Lion did.
The continued success of
Judah and the Lion is, to sum it up nicely, disturbing. Many other bands have done the folk/hip-hop/alternative/whatever fusions better than them to the point where the band's mere existence is at best redundant. But what separates Judah from the rest of the pack is how truly godawful they are—
Folk Hop 'n' Roll was more of an indie pop horror story than an album that bludgeoned you with garbage right out of the gate.
Pep Talks on the other hand has fooled some people into thinking that it's an improvement, and considering
Folk Hop 'n' Roll is cringe-inducing bottom-tier bulls**t on the level of the Millionaires and Hinder, surely it couldn't go anywhere but up from there?
Unfortunately, Judah haven't learned a damn thing other than "we cant rap in
every song"—Akers' singing is much more prominent on
Pep Talks, but since he hasn't improved his vocals whatsoever its still just as grating as a scene kid unintelligibly screaming into his microphone over a dollar store SoundCloud rap beat as it was on
Folk Hop 'n' Roll. Brian MacDonald and Nate Zuercher are still only capable of playing three notes, and Spencer Cross' drumming has still been forsaken in favor of the most basic FL Studio demo beats you can find to the point where you have to wonder why they don't just credit the damn computer instead. The lyrics are as cringe-inducing as always, only this time the attempts to rhyme (and apparently reach out to the middle school emo kid crowd) make Brokencyde look like Shakespearean genius:
So I took a stupid fight with him
After the accident
Funny now 'cause I thought it was in your defense
'Cause I thought you were sober then
So there I was a lost kid looking for a home
That he once knew
So I broke down and called you
I broke down and called you
-"Why Did You Run?"
You should put your ego down
And loosen up
You should put your ego down
Try to look dumb
You should put your ego down
And loosen up up up up up
Let me teach you how to have some
Fun, fun
Let me teach you how to have some
Fun, fun
-"GoofBallerz" (yes, that is the actual title)
Unsurprisingly,
Pep Talks is godawful. And unfortunately, as far as this listener is concerned, it has killed rock, or at the very least delivered the finishing blow after Greta Van Fleet left it within an inch of its life. And sadly, as long as Alt Nation DJs have their collective cock deep inside Judah's throat, they'll sell and get frightening "critical praise" from paid shills and tour with bands that actually have some semblance of talent. If this upsets you, then I apologize, but it's sadly time to move on, because the Row ain't safe no more.
