Ever since breaking through with their third album, 2012’s ‘On the Impossible Past,’ The Menzingers have taken us on an autobiographical journey. For joint guitarists and vocalists Greg Barnett and Tom May, they’ve navigated their twenties before becoming wiser in their thirties. Their eighth album, ‘Everything I Ever Saw,’ sees both members at a crossroads in their individual lives. Barnett is now married and starting a family. In contrast, May was going through a divorce. As a collective, completed by Eric Keen (bass) and Joe Godino (drums), it sees them explore a range of emotions centred around the here and now.
Sound-wise, the Philadelphia bands’ sound remains rooted in the favourable Americana punk. When paired with diaristic and introspective songwriting, it continues to be a favourable formula. From the outset, ‘Chance Encounters’ pounding guitars and ascending instrumentation serve as the sound of a reinvigorated band. Barnett’s self-lacerating words celebrate the spontaneity of meeting his future wife. The May-led ‘Better Angels’ keeps up the momentum through Godino’s penetrative snare drum and its anthemic quality. It’s here where The Menzingers‘ socio-political awareness comes into play. Never ones to shy away, much like on ‘America (You’re Freaking Me Out)’ (from 2019’s ‘Hello Exile’), it captures a country at breaking point. May wears his protest skin, aiming at a fractured world, but still has the energy to push back (“But we still got fight in our fists”). It’s not the only instance where May expresses his frustration. The piano-led ‘Other People’s Money’ sees him sing about billionaires in space, and MAGA flags with a satirical wink, delivered through a nostalgic prism.
The use of nostalgia rears its head throughout. Although the album intends to be in the present, tracks such as ‘‘Romanticism,’ and the heartland rock of ‘When She Enters My Dreams’ lean into nostalgic romance. When paired with Barnett’s self-sabotaging on ‘The Fool,’ and to an extent ‘Gasoline & Matches,’ it creates a thread of personal growth.
Throughout their career, Barnett and May’s songwriting has become more emotionally heavy. Where Barnett tends to celebrate being in love, he also explores grief, having lost his grandmother. On the sturdy ‘Breathe With Me’, he sings of voices fading, darkness growing and “bleeding a memory”. The grief is more clear on the penultimate track, ‘Parade Day’. Pairing up with ‘Breathe With Me’s water imagery, Barnett weathers the storm, finding acceptance in what feels like a farewell to his late grandmother. Together, they add a poignant layer to The Menzingers‘ growing emotional abilities.
While they often hone in on their personal highs and lows, ‘Nobody’s Heroes’ allows them to look at the bigger picture. As lifelong friends, the album’s centrepiece highlights their solidarity. Written by Barnett for May, following his divorce, it’s a celebration of individuality (“Cause we can only be ourselves”) and how they’ve continuously rallied around each other, taking on the world together.
That solidarity carries through to the closing title track, where the focus shifts from taking on the world together to preserving it. Barnett’s tone yearns to remember the good and the bad moments. It’s a realisation that those moments have shaped who The Menzingers have become, both individually and collectively.
Each Menzingers record has always been a snapshot of who and where they are in that moment. ‘Everything I Ever Saw’ finds them further away from the impossible past and firmly rooted in the present, holding onto both its hardships and its highs with equal honesty. Twenty years on, that’s precisely the kind of wisdom Barnett and May were once too young to write. It’s delivered with a sonic familiarity, one that never strays far from what’s made the band who they are, held together with the same conviction as ever. In short, another great addition to a superb discography.
‘Everything I Ever Saw’ by The Menzingers is out now on Epitaph Records.
Find The Menzingers on: Facebook | X (Formerly Twitter) | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | Apple Music | Linktr.ee | Website
