Review Summary: Broadside brings a raging sea of emotions to their third studio album
Love is a raging sea of emotions. That’s what pop-punk outfit Broadside set out to portray with their third studio album and it’s exactly what it perfectly encapsulates. Dealing with the story and emotions of a hopeless romantic on his search for love, and the fallout of a failed relationship. From emotional ballads to happy pop punk bangers, the album falls into pop-punk formulas, but sonically still shows the ups and downs of the relationship and boasts a boost of creativity from the band’s previous work (largely in part to their recent signing to Sharptone Records and the label’s signature ambient atmospheric soundscapes). Spinning a much more mellow and more emotional approach to the genre and the band’s sound, while still staying within the genre’s own boundaries and cliches. This is especially showcased on the opening title track of the album, with ambient clean guitars and a somber tone before erupting into the most powerful vocal performance on the record and an outpour of emotions as the writer’s relationship starts to fall apart and becomes unstable. The song is my favorite off of the album and one of the best alternative rock songs this year so far.
The realization that the relationship is over brings in the upbeat pop punk tracks “Foolish Believer”, “Overdramatic”, and “Heavenly” that feature the progression of the writer looking back on his broken relationship and pleading for a chance to make a change, thinking back at what went wrong, and remembering all of the good times they had together. All three of the songs are musically summer jams in my opinion, with the two singles out of those being songs that I have consistently come back to after they were released over the past few months and both fit well into the record unlike most lead singles I’ve heard this year.
Surrounding “Heavenly”, we have “Nights Alone” and “Clarity”, which are the two poppiest tracks on the album, fitting the lyrical content and are sonically very reminiscent of OneRepublic. Both songs feel like they could easily be crossover top 40 hits and are some of the weakest tracks on the album and don’t stand out in my opinion. In contrast, “Dancing on the Ceiling (With You)” is a solid track, with pop-rock instrumentation and one of the best choruses on the album. The rhythmic guitars stand out very well with a very solid vocal performance on this song. The lyrics recall more positive memories of the relationship before finally coming back to reality with “Seasons”, an emotional ballad encapsulating the feeling and thought process of the writer having lost the relationship and how nothing he can say can fix what they had, even though he still sees them being together and is in denial. The song erupts into a big finale that perfectly goes along with the change in tone of the lyrics as the song goes on.
“Breathe You In” shows the writer trying to find love in new relationships as he struggles to begin once again, desperate to fill the hole left by the overarching relationship in the album. The song brings a ton of energy and a change in tone from the previous tracks and it’s infectious hooks have been in my head consistently since I first heard the song. “The Setting Sun’s” instrumentation feels like it was ripped straight out of Paramore’s RIOT album, with fast, driving rhythms and upbeat lead guitars and an urgent pace. The song has a lot of youthful energy and grows with aggression as the song goes on with the best drums on the record. It’s one of the best tracks on the album, and as someone who grew up listening to Paramore, it feels very familiar but yet refreshing, as even though it sounds straight out of 2007, that particular sound isn’t heard much anymore in newer pop-punk music and is very welcome. The lyrics follow the writer finally coming to grips with his own mental health after the fallout and realizing he needs to better himself and his underlying depression that gets worse with each desperate attempt to leave things in the past without moving on.
The album ends with the short piano ballad “Burning at Both Ends”. The song perfectly ends the record with a heartbreaking vocal performance from Oliver Baxxter, as his voice shakily says goodbye to his former lover and forgives and decides to move on. It’s an incredibly emotional track that brings the record to a close in the most fitting way it could possibly end.
Into The Raging Sea is one of the most consistent pop-punk/alternative rock albums I have heard in quite some time, which, to be fair isn’t saying much for the dying genre, but it is a record that is thoroughly enjoyable after repeated listens and there isn’t a single “bad” song on this record really. While it isn’t super innovative, the soundscape merges ambient atmospheres and pop punk in a way that isn’t done very often, and features well-polished production and layered synths over great guitar tones and a raw, powerful vocal performance from frontman Oliver Baxxter. Broadside isn’t anything special, but what they’ve achieved on this record is more or less a return to form for a genre that was fading fast into niche markets and becoming less and less “rock” and less interesting sonically as time goes on. The record certainly has its flaws, with many of the songs being formulaic, but there is hardly an alternative rock album that isn’t like that these days and it is rare to see a band perfectly convey the emotions that the band tried to convey well, without ever sounding cheesy or over the top.
Favorite tracks: The Raging Sea, Dancing on the Ceiling, The Setting Sun, Breathe You In
Least faves: Clarity, Nights Alone
