Scowl – ‘Are We All Angels’ album review: a blitzing attack on the senses
THE SKINNY: The phrase ‘less is more’ may justifiably spring to mind on an album that’s too warbling, long, and ultimately big for its boots. You wouldn’t necessarily expect it for a record that only spans just over half an hour in length; in fact, quite the opposite. Yet this somewhat ironic feat is remarkably achieved by Californian rock band Scowl on their sophomore effort Are We All Angels, who, in the space of just 11 blitzing tracks, leave your head spinning—and not really in a good way.
The thing is, this all-out blazing approach is not fully unexpected for a hardcore punk act, but the band themselves lace this notion full of contradictions. They claim that the album is an exploration of various different sonic directions and genres, but when you feel as though you’ve essentially listened to the same screeching riff eight times on repeat, you might beg to differ. Yet just as the record seems to be defining itself in sameness, that whole idea is uprooted again and ultimately loses whatever sense of cohesion it was already gaining.
In essence, Are We All Angels is an album in roughly two halves—the first six tracks are a bit of a nonsensical mishmash of screeching guitar and emo screaming, which may come to mean something more if they actually made any effort to make the songs sound remotely different. The latter five tunes are, admittedly, a stronger suite of more melodic efforts that still contain as much electric energy but distinguish themselves by simply allowing things to breathe a bit more.
It’s a shame because maybe if the tracks were reordered, it would give the record an element of light and shade that could make it a lot more palatable, but as things stand, it feels like an attack on the senses where you don’t actually stop to take anything in for even a single second. The influence of American pop-punk outfits from the yesteryear of MTV is evident, but you’d think with a debut album and three EPs already under their belt, Scowl would harness a more niche brand than just an imitable wall of sound.
For fans of: Short albums – and feeling like you’re on the brink of a panic attack for half an hour straight.
A concluding comment from your audiologist: “Wear earplugs – this album might give you tinnitus.”
Are We All Angels track by track:
Release date: April 4th | Producer: Will Yip | Label: Dead Oceans
‘Special’: It’s a decent opening track as a calling card for Scowl, mainly because once you’ve heard this song, you’ve basically heard them all. But nevertheless, ‘Special’ is an eviscerating emo-punk blend that blasts the album into full force. [3.5/5]
‘B.A.B.E’: The lyric in the chorus of: “Everyone here, can you please just shut up?/ I’ve gotta catch my breath” is painfully ironic here because we’re only two tracks in, and I already need a lie down in a darkened room. [2/5]
‘Fantasy’: A cleaner vocal from lead singer Kat Moss finally allows a hint of her musical quality to shine through despite the full throttle of the electric guitars that back her, which by this point are becoming more than a little overwhelming, not to mention repetitive. [3/5]
‘Not Hell, Not Heaven’: Have we heard this song before? It certainly seems so as this does not offer a single new facet to the album other than just being pretty much a carbon copy of the previous three tracks – the title is actually fitting, however, as it’s the precise embodiment of limbo in a tune, which gains it half a point. [1.5/5]
‘Tonight (I’m Afraid)’: At last, a short burst of promise in this track’s opening funk-infused bassline – but ‘short’ is the operative word here, as it soon descends again into the same old, same old. Jumping into a different tempo every 30 seconds of its three-minute span, the tone of this song is like the fairground waltzers, where you’re kind of enjoying yourself, even though you know you’re about to throw up. [3/5]
‘Fleshed Out’: I’m slightly worried that the album’s monotonous approach is rubbing off on me as a writer, but I am genuinely struggling to find new ways to describe the fact that this song is once again boringly similar to all the others. There’s screaming, there’s a basic electric riff – what more can I say? [1/5]
‘Let You Down’: Finally, we reach the album’s turning point with a serene soundscape, allowing everything to take a beat for a second, and subsequently, the tune overall just feels infinitely more well-considered and better grounded as a result. [3.5/5]
‘Cellophane’: A deep-seated grunge beat gives the track a definite edge – but on the one hand, it sounds exactly like something Hayley Williams from Paramore could have produced ten years ago, and on the other, it seems like a random offshoot from Scowl’s work on the rest of this album. [2/5]
‘Suffer The Fool (How High Are You?)’: This is what I’m going to brand the record’s ‘TikTok song’ – admittedly slicker and more harmonious. You could imagine this possibly becoming more of a mainstream hit with an annoyingly catchy chorus riff that worms into your brain to boot. [3.5/5]
‘Haunted’: Moody, atmospheric, and by far the best song on the album, this is the depth the entire record has been crying out for. Angsty lyrics and soaring, distorted wails make this an ultimate emo anthem – meaning Scowl are finding their footing just as they are about to close. [4/5]
‘Are We All Angels’: The titular track closes the album on a disappointingly mediocre note, returning to the indiscernible wall of sound seen in its first six songs. It’s not until the last seconds, when everything cuts away and Moss sings acapella, that you realise just what this record could have been if overexuberance hadn’t taken the wheel. [2.5/5]
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