HELLMODE

HELLMODE more than likely delivers. The album is quintessential Rosenstock. Honestly though, so was No Dream, so was Post-, so was Worry, and so was We Cool? He's apparently incapable of making a bad record — even your least favourite Rosenstock album is, at the very least, good.

Essentially, HELLMODE all but confirms the sincerity electrifying the voice of our charming punk hero. With little hope to hold onto, he's still angry, urgent, and prescient as ever.

In the great tradition of punk rock heroes, Jeff Rosenstock might seem ordinary to a lot of folks, but not many folks have the talent and the vision to pull off an album as good as HELLMODE, and it ranks with his finest work.

Rosenstock’s choruses are catchy, the tempos are fast, and it’s an impressive proper studio performance. But does it go the length to be called anything groundbreaking? Not so much. But that’s not the point. Rosenstock has been doing this for a long time; experience goes a long way. For what it’s worth, he’s really good at what he does.

Although the highs are as high and electric as ever, the softer, slower moments take a little bit longer to come around to, sanding down instead of expanding on the album’s scope. The best parts of the album, particularly in the first half, illustrate the different kinds of dread gnawing at Rosenstock in straightforward yet colorful detail.