Review Summary: What a way to start anew, to shed your skin and find the old you.
I don’t look back on the bulk of my 20’s very fondly. I had a difficult time in college for various reasons before transitioning into an even greater struggle with mental health shortly after I graduated. I questioned myself a lot, I would get very down on myself for not loosening up or being present in the moment and made a few critical decisions that I profoundly regret. It wasn’t until the tail end of this decade in my life that it felt like I was finally turning it around (though that's no longer the case).
Reflecting back on it now, After the Party feels like it’s pulling the wool over my eyes. It’s a very self-aware album that reflects on the trials, tribulations and experiences of your 20’s as you find yourself veering down the road towards the next chapter (and decade) of your life, some of which I identify with. But The Menzingers deliver the music here in such a bright, carefree way that it’s easy to gloss over the fact that the bulk of the musings detailed in the lyrics on this album are sad. In a bizarre way, After the Party gives me this really bizarre yearning for this time in my life because it sounds like it was fun. Or at least sounds like it should’ve been more exciting and jovial than it ultimately was. Sure, it certainly exhibits a punk edge and aesthetic to it, but there’s such a playful energy pulsing through all of these songs that make it nearly impossible not to sing along to and not feel somewhat nostalgic.
Songs like “Lookers,” “Your Wild Years,” and “Charlie’s Army” are just a few of the songs that I love on this album that pack a lot of vibrancy and vitality into each listen, but it’s the title track that offers the greatest highlight on the album. The more I’ve listened to “After the Party” over the years, the more I’ve come to realize that this is one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard from a composition standpoint. The beauty of this song lies in the duality of the chorus from both a sound and lyrical perspective. When the first chorus comes, there’s a youthful bounciness to it. The drums provide a rhythmic backdrop that a fan of punk music can easily get swept up by and dance to. There’s a disillusionment conveyed within this first chorus that a lack of life experience can create. But jump to the arrival of the second chorus and you’ll find a noticeable change in tempo where the drums serve as the driving force once again. This time the lively punchiness from the first iteration of the chorus is gone, replaced by a more thunderous, augmented sound. Every strike on the kit and crash of the cymbal feels heavier. Coupled with the guitar lines that are more drawn out and are now being played in B minor (compared to D major in the first chorus) and it’s apparent that the emotional weight is more palpable. The complexion of the song has completely changed as reality begins to set in. The title track essentially captures the mission-statement of the entire album that I mentioned previously: reflecting on your “wild years” that were your 20’s, putting them in the rearview mirror and then looking at your 30’s. “After the Party” is explosive all the way around, from its evocative lyrics to Greg Barnett’s impassioned vocals to the band’s inspired performances, making it the signature song of their entire career, in my eyes.
Every now and then I go through periods of music existentialism. Because of the amount of music I try to consume in an attempt to discover the next great album, I start to question if I enjoy music like I used to. After the Party has always been the album that can provide the necessary reset I need to keep chugging along and remind myself just how fun music can be.
