Since the release of their energetic debut album, “How Flowers Grow,” in 2021, Santa Cruz-based band Scowl has experienced significant growth, touring the world and performing wherever they can. In 2023, they released the EP “Psychic Dance Routine,” which showcased a shift in Scowl’s sound. This new work placed a heavier emphasis on massive melodic moments while moving away slightly from the intense anger that characterised their debut.
It’s within those two releases where you find the blueprint to the Scowl we know today and their newest album, ‘Are We All Angels’. The dust has settled on what for so long felt like a clash of ingredients. On one side, you could see the band’s roots in the Santa Cruz hardcore scene, and on the other side was this polished and honed punk, laden with its catchy hooks and pop sensibilities.
As the drums crash and the guitars ring the album’s opener ‘Special’ into life, setting the tone for the album quickly, consistently switching between these near-angelic vocals, and the harsh snarling screams that undercut each chorus, and make up most of the second verse. It’s a tactic the vocalist Kat Moss deploys frequently throughout the album, and they do so without it becoming repetitive, thankfully.
Each song feels unique without the album lacking any consistency, and for every huge guitar-driven pop anthem on the album, like ‘Fantasy’, or ‘Suffer The Fool (How High Are You?), there are plenty of punkier moments too. ‘B.A.B.E’ feels designed specifically for stage diving, and the album’s lead single ‘Not Hell, Not Heaven’ contains plenty of chaos too.
There’s no doubt that Scowl will catch flack for their sound on this album. Any previous diversion from what the band established themselves as on their debut has been met with negativity. Maybe some of it is well-founded. For any band to change their sound as much as they did can feel disingenuous.
Scowl have long been lauded as a gateway into hardcore as a genre, and while it’s clear that the distance between them and the genre they originated from has grown further with this latest effort, their commitment to change has to be lauded. ‘Are We All Angels’ is perhaps the truest reflection of what Scowl is today, and as a result, the album shines.
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