{"id":97504,"date":"2024-11-08T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=97504"},"modified":"2024-11-08T00:11:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T00:11:57","slug":"review-state-champs-state-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-state-champs-state-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: State Champs &#8211; State Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-97503\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/State-Champs-300x300.webp\" alt=\"State Champs Album Artwork\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/State-Champs-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/State-Champs-800x800.webp 800w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/State-Champs-100x100.webp 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/State-Champs-768x768.webp 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/State-Champs.webp 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Eleven years on from marking their arrival with\u00a0<em>&#8216;The Finer Things&#8217;<\/em>, New Yorkers\u00a0<strong>State Champs<\/strong> have maintained their status as being on the sunnier side of pop-punk. Like many others before them,\u00a0<strong>State Champs<\/strong>&#8216; fifth full-length effort is self-titled in an attempt to define their longevity. It&#8217;s an aim that they just about achieve.\u00a0On the surface, this is very much a part and parcel\u00a0<strong>State Champs<\/strong> album. It&#8217;s filled with an abundance of energetic hooks and punchy choruses that are sure to satisfy casual fans.\u00a0 However, if you&#8217;re wanting something more from the four-piece, you might be disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no doubt that lead singer Derek DiScanio, bassist Ryan Scott Graham, guitarist Tyler Szalkowski, and drummer Evan Ambrosio can provide pop-punk bangers aplenty.\u00a0<em>&#8216;Light Blue&#8217;<\/em> and\u00a0<em>&#8216;Silver Cloud&#8217;<\/em> quickly serve their purpose. Whereas <em>&#8216;Too Late To Say&#8217;<\/em> drives forward with a confident bounce, as well as some impressive percussion work from Ambrosio in the middle.<\/p>\n<p>The aforementioned <em>&#8216;Silver Cloud&#8217;<\/em> highlights the quartet&#8217;s experience and ability to deliver melodic earworms.\u00a0For the most part,\u00a0<strong>State Champs\u00a0<\/strong>are able to pull this off with ease. However, when\u00a0<em>&#8216;Hell Of It&#8217;\u00a0<\/em>attempts to stir up some late-night carefree vibes, it becomes a victim of some clunky rhyming; <em>&#8220;drinking that shit wine, rewind, bring us back sunshine, realise&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"State Champs &quot;Light Blue&quot; (Official Music Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SFXIaeobPk0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The problem with\u00a0<strong>State Champs<\/strong> that after five albums, they&#8217;ve dug themselves into a stylistic hole that is expected of them and that they can&#8217;t seemingly get out of. At least lyrically there are glimpses of vulnerability. On <em>&#8216;Golden Years&#8217; <\/em>and the buoyant\u00a0<em>&#8216;Too Late To Say&#8217;<\/em> shows signs of DiScanio of coming to grips of being in his 30&#8217;s. With his band members scattered across the country, settling down etc, Derek&#8217;s lyrics tend to be reflective.\u00a0<em>&#8216;Just A Dream&#8217;<\/em> pluckily reminiscences of\u00a0<em>&#8220;better days&#8221;<\/em> yet allows him to admit to living within himself.\u00a0However, it&#8217;s countered by expected moments aimed at shitty ex&#8217;s such as <em>&#8216;Sobering&#8217;, &#8216;I Still Want To,&#8217;<\/em> and\u00a0<em>&#8216;Clueless&#8217;<\/em>. Even though the latter shows signs of introspection as DiScanio sings\u00a0<em>&#8220;Why do I do this, Put myself through it, I\u2019m feeling stupid.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On this evidence, <strong>State Champs<\/strong> aren&#8217;t likely to excel to legendary status in the pop-punk sphere anytime soon. However,\u00a0<em>&#8216;State Champs&#8217;<\/em> serves its purpose as being a reminder of the quartet&#8217;s melodic prowess. If you want 12 slices of hook-filled, occasionally introspective, pop-punk then\u00a0<strong>State Champs<\/strong> are certified winners in doing just that.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: State Champs\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/0fGfGPbn0HGAOex4zkAb6v?si=BhjeyD5vQW6p5fKTu7Bc1A&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;State Champs&#8217;<\/i> by <b>State Champs<\/b> is out now on <b>Pure Noise Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pop-punk specialists deliver a routine fifth album with a hint of vulnerability amongst its big hooks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1120],"class_list":["post-97504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-state-champs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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