Album review: Morbid Stuff by PUP
PUP
Morbid Stuff
Rise
Score: A
Returning with their third album, PUP’s Morbid Stuff is front to back what pop-punk dreams are made of. Where the Toronto band’s second album, The Dream is Over explored the exhaustion and despair of what a successful touring band looked like Morbid Stuff is a loud angry explosion of what to do after that. Morbid Stuff is about embracing anger and frustration as something to be used.
In ‘Free At Last’ PUP’s signature group vocals has them all yelling in unison “just cause you’re sad again / it doesn’t make you special at all” hammering the sentiment home. In a world filled with self-care and being gentle with yourself, PUP’s aggressive stance lining up more with throwing barbed wire into a bathtub than a bathbomb, stands out.
The band continues to flex their musical chops while retaining the ability to create imminently catchy pop songs to scream in the car. The track ‘Full Blown Meltdown’ contains the careful fingerpicking and heavy sludgy guitar solos and thrashing drums that are more often found in metal songs, while ‘Bloody Mary, Kate and Ashley’ is a delicately coordinated mess of a half-speed pop punk thrasher.
Despite their slow rise in the music world, PUP retains their underdog status and Morbid Stuff is a testament to that, with explosively dramatic and depressed lyric, ringing as true as is did on their first album.
– Andi Endruhn