Why ‘After the Party’ is the Album of the Year (For Now)

It’s early in the year, but this album is a great one

I will fully admit that I, being in my mid-2os, cannot fully relate to the chorus in the first track off this album, “Tellin’ Lies,” where Greg Barnett howls out, “where we gonna go now that our 20s are over?” again and again. But as my college years gradually slip further away, and I come closer to the full pressures of adulthood (I still don’t have a ‘real’ job, being in graduate school), I can definitely relate to the idea of growing up and feeling a little weird about it. And as the Menzingers release their fantastic fourth album, they absolutely nail this theme.

That’s why to this point in the year, ‘After the Party’ is the best album I’ve listened to (though it’s close). It’s also either the best or the second best album that the Menzingers have released in their career. And while this is a fantastic album from a musical standpoint — the vocals and instrumentals are both great — the project’s greatest appeal lies in the simple way it addresses growing older.

Bands that fall into the genre of rock/punk/anything-else-you-want-to-call-it often age with their fans. When this is pulled off right, the result is a beautiful catalog of songs and albums that approaches themes that fits an impressively-long list of ages. Yellowcard, for example, did this incredibly well. Starting off with songs about girls and beaches, and ending with songs about losing children and ultimately saying goodbye, this California group aged and matured far better than many other bands in the scene.

The Menzingers formed in 2006, and thus aren’t as old as Yellowcard. However, a similar theme of aging and growing up takes place in their latest album, and the songs reflect a curious mix of regret and optimism that combines in the form of meaningful lyrics. Take the aforementioned ‘Tellin Lies,’ for example. The lyrics range from depressed:

Like tension you can cut with a knife

Like a wedding ring that never fit right

Like a car alarm that won’t stop howling

A decade lost in the motions to romance and cheap whiskey

To much more hopeful by the time it all ends:

Is it wrong to say that things can change (telling lies)?

And while the parenthetical answer to this question negates much of the optimism that the question suggests, I’d argue that the question itself is a hopeful one, an idea that maybe it isn’t the end of the world that one’s 20s are over.

But then there are also songs with little to no underlying optimism. In “Midwestern States,” for example…

We both got worthless diplomas from worthless universities

Two bachelors in worthless studies

But at least it make our parents happy

And cost a whole lot of money

As depressing as these lines may seem, they’re delivered with a wry sense of humor that belies the seriousness of having a worthless college diploma. For every similar lyric on this album, the listener gets the feeling that the band is making fun of themselves with a laugh, rather than a grimace; joking rather than opining on the hopelessness of life. This is a theme that fits well with the cover art — there’s a sense of ridiculousness to the balding man sitting with his head in his hands outside of a theme park.

So in ‘After the Party,’ the Menzingers have created a slightly depressing, but also slightly uplifting album about growing up (and everything that comes with that). Lots of bands try to do this though, so what sets this album apart from the myriad of other “rock band grows up” albums is simply how fantastic this particular attempt is. Every song, every lyric, every guitar line is all delivered with poise and comfort. This is a veteran band firing on all cylinders. The Menzingers have crafted several albums before this point in their career, and the end result is a true album of the year contender in February.

When I concoct my (mostly) arbitrary list of top-10 albums at the end of every year, I look for elements like quality songwriting, effortless delivery, and poignant lyrics. In ‘After the Party,’ I have found all of those. While it is far too easy to tell which albums will make the list that I frantically draw up at the end of every December, this one is a clear frontrunner right now.

Originally published at medium.com on February 13, 2017.