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Boston Manor - GLUE (Review)

The new staples of pop punk continue to prove they're hard to pin down...
Boston Manor - Glue Lyrics and Tracklist | Genius
Boston Manor caught my attention in a pretty major way with their sophomore record "Welcome to the Neighbourhood", an album that took the energy of their debut's purebred pop punk and channelled it into something that straddled the lines between alternative rock, post-hardcore and industrial rock. It was a big changeup for the band and one that hugely paid off in the more positive reception it garnered from critics and fans alike, despite the persisting critiques that they were nothing more than your average whiny pop punk band.

For me, that second album of theirs was infinitely better than their debut. It was hugely ambitious in its blending of subgenres into what ended up being an incredibly dark and brooding experience, and one that gratifyingly offered a tonne of interesting subject matter. The lyrics and themes consisted of a lot of challenging of toxic masculinity and typical male archetypes, as well as retaining a general anger towards the establishments that mirrored your traditional punk acts. Yes, there were definitely some moments that failed to land and a small few songs that failed to do any of that, but overall it was an album that set out to do something a little different from its peers, and did it in a gloriously dark way. The question is, where did they take things with the followup?

Well, first off, they definitely doubled down both on the different instrumental influences and in the society challenging themes. Given those things were fundamental in the greatness of "Welcome to the Neighbourhood", you'd expect that this would result in an immediately enhanced experience with "GLUE"... but that's just not quite true. I can say right away that this album is probably more cohesive that its predecessor but that's more true of the songs as a whole than the components of different songs and the way that they come together. For one thing, the use of synthesizers on "Welcome..." was an interesting way to build on the dark guitars and often elevate the melodies that could become buried in the mix due to the heavy atmosphere; however, here on "GLUE" it seems as though the band have chosen to largely increase their use of synths but rather than employing them as a means to enhance the atmosphere and bring out the best in the melodies they're often doing entirely their own thing. Unfortunately, this different method doesn't pay off and most times that synths are used they sound forced and out of place, a feeling many of the album's clashing elements evoke.

The lead single "Everything Is Ordinary" opens things up with a blast of guitar and synths that threaten to burst your eardrums, both so far forward in the mix they sound ready to blow both your speaker and the amp they were put through when recorded. Frustratingly, this isn't the only mixing issue on this track as you're soon greeted by vocalist Henry Cox's vocals. I have to say, I'm a fan of his pretty charismatic and urgent voice with its permanently sceptical edge but the way its processed on this track is atrocious and things don't get much better on track two... "1's & 0's" is melodramatic in all the wrong ways, with even more ear-killing production and lyrics that give Boston Manor naysayers a lot of weight to their "whiny pop punk" accusations. Aside from a sensational breakdown, this song doesn't have much of quality to offer and I'm glad that from the next song the album seems to pick itself up.

"Plasticine Dreams" is a very 90s influenced track, aligning itself more with indie rock and britpop than the band have ever before to some pretty decent results. More impressively, it's one of the album's only songs that manages to incorporate synthesizers effectively, bringing a wave of electronics on board to heighten the atmosphere beautifully. "Terrible Love" follows with a slower, more stripped back version of the same formula and it's a track that's definitely grown on me over several listens, the chorus standing out as a moment of raw sincerity and passion. 

The album's rejection of toxic masculinity is highlighted on the next track "On a High Ledge", a wonderfully atmospheric cut that's reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails with its heavily electronic edge. It's another one of the best songs here, and it's at this point that I was reminded of just how good this band can and have got... and yet...as great as this song is, it feels like a good time to mention another of the album's greatest flaws: the choruses. Even on a song as potent as "On a High Ledge", the power is somewhat hindered by a chorus that just repeats the titular phrase over and over again, a trope I've noticed more and more both since pop songs have favored a drop over a chorus and in alternative music since The 1975's "Give Yourself a Try". It's a shame that they couldn't have written just that little bit more but they didn't and thus another problem has been added to the growing list.

For some of the next songs' emo-typical lyrics, there remains a lot to love instrumentally with "Only1" and "You, Me & The Class War", even when the latter's lyrics are criminally underwhelming given the song's promising title and subject matter. After this (it seems now that I will be giving every song a mention) is another album stunner in the form of the explosive "Playing God", a track that would fit in with the groovier tracks on the previous album courtesy of Dan Cunniff's excellent bassline.

I wasn't initially going to write something for every single song but alas I've started now and I shan't stop here. On "Brand New Kids", we're greeted by a phenomenal intro that sounds creepy, foreboding and is a great builder of anticipation... and then we're given what has to be the album's most middle of the road and average song, a track that has little to distinguish it in terms of subject matter, instrumentation of general performance to make it worth much. Still, it's catchy and that's sure to earn it some praise. Now, "Ratking" on the other hand, that's a song that can speak for itself and it's got a pretty loud voice. It feels measured in a good way, the drums pounding, guitars wailing and Henry's vocals varying between somewhat restrained and utterly commanding. In essence, it's every emo's new favourite song and probably for good reason.

Perhaps my biggest surprise came in the form of "Stuck in the Mud", the first true ballad here and easily the best produced song on the entire album. For one, there's a real swell to the instrumental when it builds near the end, the lyrics are pretty depressing but with a sentimental side that I'm surprised works so well. It feels apart from the rest of the album, and definitely in a good way. Following this is the 2019 single "Liquid", a song that again boasts production that actually compliments the instrumental and results in another one of their best songs. Finally, we land on the album closer "Monolith", a song that definitely lives up to its name as perhaps the grandest and most important the band have ever felt. Everything and nothing about this track is personal. What do I mean by that? Well, clearly everything here comes from the heart and means a lot to Henry, but aided by the grandeur and scale of the instrumental the lyrics seem to take on a much more important and relevant meaning as a grapple with everything the album has been about, from society and religion to the spaces we occupy within those constructs. Once again, the lyrics are pretty simple but they hold a lot of meaning in spite of that and I think that's where the true quality really lies.

Overall, this is an album caught between greatness and mediocrity in a pretty unusual sense, its opening two tracks dragging the whole project down even when almost every other song offers something amazing to latch onto. That said, there are lots of consistent issues I must address, predominantly the production and mixing. There may be a lot of substance and potential in the pool of influences and straight energy that these guys possess, but a better producer is desperately needed to pull things together and accentuate the best parts of the album. The instruments have a lot of swell but there's little payoff to the huge sounds, making them feel hollow and unfulfilling. Besides all that, there is still a lot to love here and I'm sure most fans won't have been disappointed, so I can still confidently recommend this to those who most likely won't care about the flaws that I do.

6.5/10

Best Tracks: Plasticine Dreams; Terrible Love; On a High Ledge; Playing God; Stuck in the Mud
Worst Tracks: Everything Is Ordinary; 1's & 0's

Watch the video for "Plasticine Dreams"


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"GLUE"
Boston Manor
1st May 2020
Pure Noise Records
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