Review: Stick To Your Guns - Keep Planting Flowers

Review: Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers

With a relentless intensity, the Orange County metallic hardcore mob return with a spirited narrative of perserverence.

Orange County outfit Stick To Your Guns has represented the Californian hardcore for over two decades, yet as they return for their eighth full-length it considerably sees them in their purest form. You kinda know what to expect from STYG and ‘Keep Planting Flowers’ quickly meets expectations with the machine gun rumbling of ‘We All Die Anyway’ giving way to ‘Spineless’‘ siren guitars and Jesse Barnett’s explosive chorus.

Unsurprisingly, there is a relentless intensity yet when metallic blasts such as ‘Permanent Dark’ you can’t find fault in their steely execution. Influenced by Barnett’s persevering lyrical mindset, it brilliantly captures the positive fighting spirit that appears throughout. A quote by Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti bridges ‘Permanent Dark’ with the roaring ‘Invisible Rain‘. It serves as a stomping onslaught with ferocity, comfortably embracing a melodic dynamic in the process. Likewise, ‘Severed Forever’ thrives in its melodic hardcore skin albeit slightly routine.

If there is one message Stick To Your Guns wants fans to take away from ‘Keep Planting Flowers’, it is to look for each other and yourself. Its title track is lyrically guilt-riddled as Barnett mourns lost ones; “I wish I knew you were in pain/ Because if it’s all the same you were always invincible to me.” Supported by an ethereal, steady build-up, the explosive payoff is considerably more epic than it should be. STYG peak on this outing when ‘Keep Planting Flowers’ is paired up with ‘Eats Me Up’s galloping tempo and “woah” filled chorus. Furthermore, Chris Rawson and Josh James’ duel guitars soar with metallic might, as drummer Adam Galindo and bassist Andrew Rose maintain the quintet’s heavy foundation.

‘Who Needs Who’ sees Scott Vogel from the influential LA hardcore group, Terror, make a brief yet impactful cameo. The one-minute track is a stomping rallying reminder of workers’ rights and that the big bosses and CEOs of this world need their employees. A second cameo comes from Connie Sgarbossa of SeeYouSpaceCowboy. On ‘H84U’, her scathing screams are on with STYG‘s ferociousness, collectively destroying a path of destruction.

It’s a chaotic 27 minutes of Stick To Your Guns thriving in their familiar metallic hardcore ways. While their frustrations are firmly explored on these 10 tracks, there is a positive and encouraging message amongst Barnett’s often guttural tongue. It attaches itself to hardcore’s spirited attitude of unity and unyielding determination. Sure ‘Keep Planting Flowers’ may not break any new ground in the genre, but Stick To Your Guns should be credited for maintaining an ethos that strongly resonates. From the admission of ” I won’t abandon myself for anything” on ‘We All Die Anyway’ or “Just trying to survive” on ‘Invisible Rain’, to being in a downward spiral to the point “you just have to fight” (see ‘H84U’) emphasises Barnett and company’s mental strength, taking on everything life throws at them.

‘Keep Planting Flowers’ by Stick to Your Guns is released on January 10th, 2025 on SharpTone Records.