It’s not often that a musical endeavour can spur a deep yearning to facilitate a brutally honest evaluation of one’s own path, especially in the wake of identifying the seemingly toxic elements seeping into every facet of your past and present self.
With such a unique and powerful essence radiating out of every track, that a nearly decade long journey to the release of the long awaited debut album – Sometimes You’re Gonna Feel Like a Loser But That’s Alright by the Gothenburg native Emo Rockers Dream Drop is finally hitting the airwaves.
Tapping into the complex, torturous and sobering reality of mental and emotional crisis immersion, Dream Drop’s latest addition to their discography can be perceived by listeners as a darkwave and horrorcore melting pot, that is continuously swirling around the bands already established roots within post-hardcore and emo circles. An interesting phenomenon taking reign over the albums dark aesthetics and overall lyrical themes is the possible lingering parallel to the known six stages of grief, including Numbness/Denial, Anxiety/Panic, Bargaining/Control, Frustration/Despair as well an understanding of Acceptance that seems to fall short of true peace of mind that we’re assuming will eventually be explored in the next “phase” of the bands evolutionary soundscape.
Although the entire LP is filled to the brim with intriguing works surrounding concepts such as sacrificial love, dystopian microcosms plus commentary on an almost nonchalant perspective on mental, physical and emotional atrophy; the top-notch entries at times literally screaming out for the attention and adoration they deserve, include ‘We Will Go Down’ and ‘If I Were To Disappear’.
‘We Will Go Down’ is an energetic ode to out of reach expectations, as well as harboured resentment towards the lack of healthy escapism from the dire straits the narrator and company are faced with on a day to day basis. Although the track consists of a Presto emo rap inspired bridge and a cult like Adagio chanting chorus line, which plays on repeat with guitar solos filling the gaps which aim to melt your face off; the track packs some serious heat while speaking on the bands ethos surrounding the major fulfilment they receive while performing to a live audience, which in itself is used by the band as their preferred escapism, sense of belonging as well as an act of catharsis.
Moving closer to the end of the albums progression, ‘If I Were To Disappear’ is strangely reminiscent of a sadcore remix of ‘Once Upon A December’ from the 1997 animated motion picture soundtrack for Anastasia, originally performed by Liz Callaway; it describes the slow but continuous descent into suicidal ideation and how the manifestation of such thoughts becomes so easy to access without support or intervention from those closest.
Besides such hard hitting themes previously mentioned, a dominant underlining theme that spreads itself across the entire album in one form or another is the complicated relationship band members have with their own mortality; although it can be viewed as extremely morbid, triggering or uncomfortable for many casual listeners, the fact that Joar Westerlund Anfinset – the bands front man and lyricist, is so transparent about their ongoing battles with extreme ruminations on ‘If I Were to Disappear’, just goes to show the lengths these guys are willing to go to achieve a sense of togetherness with their audience, via basking in familiar states of anguish with the sole purpose of finding freedom from the pain.
This exploration of the vast and seemingly untenable realms of existential angst should be regarded as an essential listening experience, especially for those lost and broken souls in need of a welcoming voice of realism, to signal an overwhelming sense of comfort in the bands incredible ability to connect listeners and rise above the devastation left behind by their collective plight.