Turnstile – ‘Never Enough’ album review: spearheading the hardcore revival with innovation
THE SKINNY: I bet you never thought a hardcore album would slip into your holiday playlist? On Never Enough, the heavy riffs are laden with suncream as it bathes in the glistening sun to provide an innovative take on hardcore punk. Like any time spent in the sun, moderation is key and while Turnstile overstay their welcome in the closing stages of the album, for the most part, they’ve found a sweet spot for their unrelenting brand of music to flourish.
From the outset, the band lean into a more cinematic approach and peel back the curtains with soaring synths. Naturally they affirm fans that this soaring approach isn’t flying into unknown territory without practice, as they waste little time to stamp a chaotic signature onto this new voyage, led by Daniel Fang’s electrifying drumming.
Like a rolling chorus of thunder, he never tires throughout the album. From the heavy lead single ‘Sole’ right the way up to ‘Birds’, his importance is never forgotten. But it’s perhaps paled into view on experimental space tracks like ‘Sunshower’ and ‘Look Out For Me’. Both hinge on energetic hardcore sensibilities while taking important pause at sonic moments to allow ideas to develop. Much like the mosh pits these songs will undoubtedly incite, there’s necessary time to regather, draw a new circle and prepare for more.
There’s an important emphasis on expanse that takes place throughout this entire record, and without it, the most beautiful moments wouldn’t have been achieved. Turnstile have shown an intense understanding of warring tensions, how bona fide hardcore punk can be bolstered by the delicacy that contextualises it. But maybe that expense clouded their modesty and allowed a small handful of tracks to escape the net and make the final cut, robbing it of its artistic accuracy. But nevertheless, it’s an undoubtedly compelling take.
For fans of: LSD induced mosh pits.
A concluding comment from Christopher Nolan: “I think I made the ending to Interstellar too happy. Is this what space is really like?”
Never Enough track by track
Release date: June 6th | Producer: Brendan Yates | Label: Roadrunner Records
‘Never Enough’: Like a cinematic letterbox opening up, this track peels into view with its airy synths. Something about it feels inextricably linked to the colour palette of the album, gliding through something celestial before being turbo boosted by the unrelenting force of the band’s hardcore sound. [4/5]
‘Sole’: If you like getting your head boxed off by drums, then this is your track. Daniel Fang has slipped on eight-ounce gloves and is giving you absolutely no room to rest on this powerhouse performance. It’s exercising the bands traditional hardcore tendencies as the remaining album gives way to more experimentation. [3/5]
‘I Care’: It’s hard to think reverberating guitar licks and hand-clapped percussion would somehow weave its way into this record, but it does with relative ease. It’s perhaps the most crystallised example of where the band have become more sunkissed on this album, particularly in the bridge where a twirling synthesiser comes front of view. [3.5/5]
‘Dreaming’: The experimentation continues with a brass opening on ‘Dreaming’, but it almost feels futile as it serves as nothing more as a segue from the previous track. Besides the opening bar, they’re barely seen again and may as well have just leant into treating ‘Dreaming’ as a bona fide hardcore track. [2.5/5]
‘Light Design’: A fun use of arpeggiated synths to off-beat the traditional tempo of hardcore drumming on this track. It’s exactly the sort of atmospheric layering that achieves the band’s overall goal of creating a celestial world for their music to live in. [3.5/5]
‘Dull’: If this album shows a fine tuning of contrasting tensions through instrumental layering, then this track proves how it’s served them in the space of a more traditional sound. Albeit a simpler track on the record, it pushes and pulls enough to give weight to the chorus. [3/5]
‘Sunshower’: At the turn of the record is where Turnstile reach their peak. The first half is as unrelenting as it gets, making you feel as though you’re running a thrilling but gruesome gauntlet of punk, before breaking down into their finest section of sonic experimentation. The pan pipes are jarring yet unexplainably welcome and are given the necessary time to be more than a novelty segue. [4/5]
‘Look Out For Me’: And the segue is made more meaningful by its partnering track and the standout of the whole album. Every glimmer of textural experimentation that has lead to this song now coalesces. From the almost Bowie-like reverb of the intro, the sweaty punk breakdown and then into the electronic reprise, it teeters on the edge of muddled but never indulges that danger. It’s a compelling medley of all the band’s desires and gives meaning to this new vortex the album passes through. [4.5/5]
‘Ceiling’: It’s certainly an interesting experimental interlude but feels as though it borders on the line of indulgence. So many ideas are packed into this album and undoubtedly a connecting track like this is sorely needed, but maybe further up in the tracklisting or at the expense of another song. I genuinely think ‘Look Out For Me’ and ‘Seein’ Stars’ could have been more carefully segued without this. [2.5/5]
‘Seein’ Stars’: It’s nice to see the reverberated guitar that has been used throughout the record is being dedicated as a sort of sonic motif. It feels like on this A-side, the band are taking a breath and that instrument is being used to coax them through it. [3.5/5]
‘Birds’: Enjoyed that break? Well it’s time to dive back in. The industrial and ominous opener feels like a slowly moving rollercoaster, inching closer to a drop into a pit of doom. Led by Fang and backed by Pat McCrory and Meg Mills, who all feel in complete sync with one another, it feels like an all-out excuse to have fun amidst utter chaos. [4/5]
‘Slowdive’: The chorus is good fun and Yates’ vocals are packed with an infectious attitude of frustrated bravado. But ultimately, in an album that has one foot out the door and the other still in, overstaying its welcome, this track wouldn’t have been missed. [2/5]
‘Time Is Happening’: The sort of half-hearted approach of pop punk feels like a little bit of a robbery given some of the exciting experimentation we’ve enjoyed. It suits the sort of aching lyrics of ‘time to let you go’ but ultimately feels like you’re driving a Ford Mustang in cruise control. [2/5]
‘Magic Man’: If halfway through the album I was asked how I would want the closer to sound, it would have been laid in synths. I’m pleased to hear this juxtaposing celestial powerhouse be brought to a cinematic and emotional close. It feels right. But would have felt better without the previous two track in between. [3.5/5]
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