Leagues Apart is a gruff four-piece from Manchester. Their new album, ‘Brief Interviews With Hideous Men’, is a wonderful, energetic, and passionate punk record that I’m really happy to have in time for summer. ‘Brief Interviews…’ opens with a scream, stops, allows melody to consume everything, and then explodes. The chorus to second track, ‘In Spite of It All’, is a perfect example of what Leagues Apart have to offer. It’s fast and it’s made for a sing-along – you even get to pick which vocal line you’re going to hold your drink aloft in honour of. From that point on the band turns down neither the intensity nor general excellence. ‘I Would Consider John Candy To Be A Noir Actor’ starts slow, builds beautifully, and ends in fist pumping glory as my pick of the bunch.
There are plenty more excellent moments throughout this beast of a record, however. There’s the lightning fast ‘I Thought You Meant Wales The Country’ with vocal breaks, sweet licks, and (this’ll be the last time I mention it for fear of redundancy by the tenth time around) more than ample opportunity to scream along until your voice is a grated, Bale-as-Batman whisper. There’s the driving punk rock pound of ‘The Confessions of Howard Campbell Jr’ and the fuzzy bass that carries through the early stages of ‘I Was Born A Snake Handler, I’ll Die A Snake Handler.’
If you’ve ever heard a gnarlier declaration of “I’m not angry!” than that which tears out at the start of ‘Can I Borrow Your Phone?’ then I give you until that same song’s sweet solo to think of it. By the mid-tempo drive of the breakdown, you’ll likely not care anymore anyway. Anyone who listens this far and isn’t thoroughly committed to the cause has a strong will and no heart. Sublime closer ‘To Know The Night Is To Live In It Forever’ lays out one last marvelous melodic moment before Leagues Apart drop the metaphorical mic and leave a void in the chest that can only be filled by punk rock songs.
5/5
‘Brief Interviews With Hideous Men’ by Leagues Apart is out on the 7th of May on Cats? Aye! Records.
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Words by Thomas Knott (@thislifeishuge)
