Review Summary: I've heard better.
Beginning in 2019, Dinosaur Pile-Up frontman Matt Bigland would suffer from a multiyear health crisis that would nearly take his life. According to Bigland, he was initially misdiagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, and would later go on to suffer from symptoms such as extreme weight loss, sores covering his body, and even internal bleeding. To put it bluntly, it’s nothing short of a miracle that he was able to fully recover and continue making music.
I’ve Felt Better, their fifth studio album and first LP in nearly six years, had all the potential in the world to be the band’s triumphant return. However, there are a handful of issues that consistently plague the album and keep it from reaching its potential, such as lackluster (and oftentimes lazy) songwriting, as well as the band’s general unwillingness to take risks, resulting in much of the album feeling stale and derivative.
Dinosaur Pile-Up’s sound can best be described as Foo Fighters-esque hard rock instrumentals combined with stonerish, laid back lyrics that aren’t often meant to be taken seriously. Occasionally on
I’ve Felt Better, this blend of ideas truly shines. The album’s title track is one of the few songs to feature lyrics about Bigland’s recent medical troubles, as well as some tongue-in-cheek lines about how much society changed while he was in recovery.
”So I wake up, the world is fucked
Ye's a fucking nazi, MGK's a punk
Wait a second, I got a question
Shit is fucking weird, how long have I been out?”
There are, however, too many times on
I’ve Felt Better where the songwriting feels far too juvenile, and there are many instances where the lyrics feel like they were written by an angsty teenager who just learned how to swear for the first time. Bigland also has a tendency to repeat the titles of songs in their respective choruses to an annoying degree. If you were to show somebody unfamiliar with the band songs such as
’Bout to Lose It,
Punk Kiss, and
Unfamiliar, but you didn’t tell them what the names of the songs were, there’s a very good chance they’d be able to guess them correctly after each of the tracks’ first choruses. On top of that, the hooks tend to fall flat more often than not on
I’ve Felt Better, resulting in many songs leaving a less-than-memorable impression, even upon repeated listens.
I normally don’t take issue with rock bands/albums having uninspired lyrics so long as the instrumentals are at least engaging to listen to, but that’s unfortunately also an aspect of the album that’s lacking in creativity. That’s not to say there aren’t occasionally fun riffs and solos to be found, (
Sick of Being Down actually has an awesome opening riff, and
Big Dogs features probably the coolest solo on the album), but the instrumentals are far too inconsistent and uninspired to carry the album on their own.
I’ve Felt Better is…fine, but it could’ve been so much more. Matt Bigland’s health scare (which the album’s name is a reference to) could’ve provided the inspiration needed for the band to write more personal and mature lyrics without sacrificing the fun and upbeat nature of their past albums. Instead, what we got is twelve songs that feel like the band is simply going through the motions and only sticking to what’s worked for them in the past. It’s a triumph that Matt Bigland was able to make a full recovery and continue doing what he loves - I just wish that the album could’ve shared some of that feeling.
2.5 out of 5
