State Champs - Living Proof (June 15, 2018) Album • Page 7

Okay yeah this definitely veers more into the poppy side than I was expecting. They're kinda taking longer to get there than I initially thought, but I'm happy with the progression regardless. Digging it a lot so far, halfway through and haven't heard a track I don't like. Choruses are all super catchy

 

Damn, that opening one-two punch of Criminal and Frozen is awesome.

 

Ok I’m kind of pumped again

 

Woke up with a bunch of these songs in my head after just one listen. I can’t really say why this is the one “new” pop punk band that really does it for me, but I’m loving this.

 

This record is really, really good

 

Same here. State Champs and Real Friends keep me interested in the new pop punk era. Real Friends gets some hate for their lyrics, but their music has gotten better with some time. Plus, they are good dudes on top of it. Their new song is awesome too.

 

Seaway is my favorite of the batch but State Champs is right up there

 

I’m interested to see where RF go. Their new song is the first one I’ve thought is pretty good, so I’m hoping they can put together an album that surprises me.

 

I’ve never actually listened to Seaway, I’ll check them out

 

I'd start with Vacation or Color Blind

 

I like State Champs but I’m usually not a fan of new pop punk bands for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on. That being said, this is one of may favorite songs of the year:

 

Time Machine reminds me so much of some tracks from Hit The Lights “Invicta”

 

Safe Haven is very ATL

 

All throughout the record I hear pieces of Cartel, ATL, some YC, etc. Not surprising that my ears love it.

 

Okay, more fleshed out thoughts after several more listens...

What I like: A lot of this album sees the band staying closer to pop rock than pop-punk. They let the songs breathe more, and I think the result is some of their strongest work to date. In particular, Frozen, Dead and Gone, and Safe Haven exemplify this progression. Though this album is frontloaded in terms of quality just like their past releases, this is much less of a problem here than in the past, and it’s easily their most consistent album to date.

What I don’t like: not much. There are a couple songs on here that are very standard pop-punk State Champs songs, which isn’t bad, but they feel kinda lazy to me, and like the kind of songs the band can write in their sleep at this point. I’m mostly talking about Cut Through the Static and Sidelines. Neither is bad at all, but they’re not nearly as interesting to me as the rest of the album, and not the sound I’d prefer from them anymore. (Also, I find Sidelines to be a weak closer - it doesn’t really have a sense of finality to it and could go basically anywhere in the track listing.)

Altogether, I think it’s a really good album, and their first that I think is solid front to back. To me, this seems like the beginning of State Champs reaching the potential that I’ve seen in them since The Finer Things came out. I sincerely hope they keep exploring the poppier side of their sound, because I think they’re the only current pop-punk band capable of writing really good songs in that style.

 

Disagree so hard, but it’s cool. I want the edgier punk side for sure.

 

I agree with pretty much everything here. Thecloser is really weak compared to the rest of the record.

Also, in terms of literal first listen impressions, Safe Haven was my favorite by a wide margin.

 

I back the Seaway talk hard. Lula on the Beach, London, Airhead, Alberta, Shy Guys and so on. So many great songs.

 

So Our Time To Go gives me mad 2000s scene vibes, the video just adds to that even though it's supposed to be a stranger things reference from what I've heard.

 

This album is probably the worst of their last few albums, but still my 2nd favorite, you know?

ATWAB was such a solid iconic pop-punk album, that didn't have a bad or lagging song on it.

This album has more fun unique songs but doesn't mesh as well as their last ones.

 

Saw this video on the big screens at Target today, lol

 

Lol, this might be a sign of them going mainstream.

 

But in all seriousness, I feel like this album along with them being main stage on the last Warped might make them huge.

 

The Finer Things is more beloved by their fans even though ATWAB is when they started to really pick up steam.

A lot of filler/duds on ATWAB so I hope this isn't the case on this record.

 

This is better than the last but no finer things.