Review Summary: There are worse things than Interrobang *or* The sum of the parts isn't better than the whole
“Sometimes I do a little too much, wеll, I try and I try but I'm a mess and that's alright - I'm so happy I could die”
Anthony Raneri is royalty amongst the tortured poets of the emo-tinged pop-punk scene of the early aughts. Bayside and his solo work typically feature wholly depressing verses over bombastic rock with punk sensibilities and arena ready polish. In 2024 they dropped their 9th full-length album There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive. In reality the record release lasted from 2022 – 2024. Toying with the idea that album-oriented music enjoyment went the way of MySpace the band released songs in a running series of singles and EP’s over the span of two years. This led to a bit of malaise for the overall release which is a decent album front to back. The problem for their fans is that the songs therein had been chewed upon, digested, and dare I say shat out over months. There is absolute brilliance in the parts, and those that only know the band from the eponymous release have been missing out on a consistent and consistently entertaining discography.
Ant (guitar and vocals, Nick (bass), Jack (guitar and backing vocals), and Chris (drums) have been a cohesive unit for 20 of the bands 25 years. While their early work was emo/pop-punk heavy, many of the songs on There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive border on metal heavy. One of the releases of material was in the form of the Blue EP and the track How To Ruin Everything which featured Ice Nine Kills is 100% mosh worthy and includes a blistering solo. I can still recall nearly falling over when my Spotify “metal” playlist pulled that one in the mix. It’s not original recipe Bayside, but extra crispy. Killer track, total 10/10 for the album. Another early banger from the premier release for this material (the Red EP) is Good Advice. Lyrically fascinating and musically relentless the track snarks with “I guess the bastards finally got you. I guess it’s one of those days.” Over the course of both EPs the band released a total of 7 songs including the highlight of the album, The Devils. A tailor made as a show opener with a gleefully haunting, group chant opening:
“We are the trade ins; the souls that needed saving. Counting on a tired god, who didn’t really want the job. He's on vacation, as I wait to be taken. It doesn’t really matter now, so what am I so worried about”
Ant then promises that there are no more sunny days (he can report). I’ve always described Bayside to others as sad words over happy music. This album holds steady on that line, except now it’s sad words over happy, heavier music. Upon the release the final, and dare I say weakest tracks of the album were dropped in. Weak probably isn’t fair, they were just all very similar in parts to the already released material that came in the earlier Eps. The closing track while not the best is pure Bayside.
“I’m so happy I could die. Take a look at my perfect life, my perfect job, my perfect wife. I'm so happy I could die. So why am I so sad I want to cry? I'm terrified of everything, even when everything is great. I'm so happy I could die.”
Stay gold Anthony and the boys from Bayside. I still wonder if I would have scored this album as high as I have their previous effort Interrobang, which I definitely feel is a whole that is more than the some of it’s parts. Worse Things Than Being Alive are some killer parts, but weaker when put together. Especially if you were in for the ride as they released.
