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Tag: Album Review

  • If This Is Where It Got Us. What Good Is It? by Wow, Okay, Cool

    If This Is Where It Got Us. What Good Is It? by Wow, Okay, Cool

    Artist: Wow, Okay, Cool

    Album: If This Is Where It Got Us. What Good Is It?

    Release: September 04, 2026; Self Release

    For time immemorial, art and music have always been at the heart of protest. As fun as escapism is, there is nothing more important than being aware of what’s going on right now. Wow, Okay, Cool’s album “If This Is Where It Got Us, What Good Is It?” is just the tip of the Shit To Be Angry About iceberg. Maybe even just a crystalized raindrop on the tip of the tip. 

    Unabashed yelling and incredibly raw, ITIWIGU, WGII is a lesson in old-school punk. The unpolished realness is its selling point. There is definitely a sort of nostalgia to the DIY style that hasn’t been a staple mainstream punk music in at least a decade. No one just vents their frustrations into a microphone like they used to.

    Coming in as number one on my fave songs list is “Indie Industrial Sleaze Complex”. While I don’t have experience inside the indie music industry as an artist, I’ve seen some of the bands that built their fanbase on the idea of being poor and relatable and hating the rich only to get rich and gut music journalism within an inch of its life. Even amongst the fanbases, we have all encountered the person who cosplays poverty but falls into the comfort of their family’s money and privilege at the end of the festival weekend. Safe to say, this song touched a sore spot in me. It’s also weirdly catchy. 

    Khakis and boat shoes aside, “Harupex” being placed right after Indie Sleaze Industrial Complex, with its W.B. Yeats excerpt, is its own special brand of genius. At first, I didn’t get it. But wouldn’t leaving this fucked up circus be just another form of privilege that avoids the larger problem? Some of us are in it until the whole thing implodes. Willingly or not. 

    Tragic Symptom of being chronically online or intentional stroke of artistic genius, “Fuck, That’s Bleak” reminds me of either the infamous “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.” cognitive test or the one R.E.M song. Either way, it’s like a fucked up word association game where every word connects to a government official. 

    Really I could go through each song on the album and tell you the ways in which it’s good. At that point, you should probably just listen to it and decide for yourself. Maybe it’ll get you thinking and getting angry as well. Or maybe you already are-

    Upset about literally everything going on in the world right now. Wow, Okay, Cool wants you to know that you’re not alone in that feeling. In a way it’s kind of inspiring. Anyone could channel their anger into any kind of art and that’s beautiful. 

    My two favorite things in the world are the word milquetoast and dunking on dipshit libs. Which means that this was a strong album right from the start as the first song is literally called “Milquetoast Libs (and the Fascists Who Love Them)”. As someone who loves playing Six Degrees of Fascism, people who play polite to keep the peace really fucking bug me.

    Punch Nazis and listen to Wow, Okay, Cool. 

  • We Emit A Visible Light That Vanishes When We Die by Nelson Comes To Visit

    We Emit A Visible Light That Vanishes When We Die by Nelson Comes To Visit

    Artist: Nelson Comes To Visit (Superdestroyer//Leave Nelson B)

    Album: We Emit A Visible Light That Vanishes When We Die

    Release: September 4, 2026; Lonely Ghost Records 

    The Nelson Comes To Visit series is a collaboration between artists Superdestroyer and Leave Nelson B that has become a yearly tradition around these parts. If you’re fan of the blog this duo certainly doesn’t need another introduction, so I am going to jump right in. 

    The first thing I notice about the album over all is it is darker and more angry than the pervious NCTV releases. A few songs make use of deep throated screaming that I wasn’t initial expecting but over all makes complete sense given the subject matter found in those songs. The state the of the world makes me that angry too fam. I get it. However, amongst the anger and dystopia presented in the album there are songs that illustrate that even when things are bleak, hope can be found. 

    The album starts off heavy with the dystopia in the song “When Confronted With A Life Of Fruitless Toil The Robot Chose To End It”. The name alone puts me in my feels all by itself. The song is about how the American dream is a lie sold to the masses to keep the common folk in line. It also shares a few facts to help support its second point– Billionaires shouldn’t exist. Then, as if its the cherry on top or the final drop of the hammer, the song end with a clip of a news report to let listeners know that the ultra rich are preparing for the end of the world. Are you? 

    Next, the album shares a moment of hope with the song “Martial Bliss”. There is hope in finding your person among the terrors of the world. This song shares exactly that sentiment albeit is a somewhat macabre way. I have a dark sense of humor so I found it endearing and sweet. One of the last lyrics in the song is “So long as you’re alive, the world is worth saving.” Initially, I thought this line was a call to action to carry the listener into the rest of the album, an attempt to assure them things will get better. However, I read the lyrics sheet and there are 2 words that almost get lost in the music that really changes the context. “To me” This is an affirmation of love. It literally melts my heart y’all. 

    The rest of the album continues like this laying out the stark, often dark reality of how things are. Sprinkling little bits of hope here and there to keep listeners going or perhaps even inspire you. The first few lines of “Mason Family Christmas Card” is one of those moments of hopeful inspiration. The call to action at the end of the song makes it clear that it is, indeed, supposed to be taken that way. 

    My favorite song on the album is another moment of hope. “We’ll See Each Other In This Moment For Eternity” the song describes an Antifascist protest. Ending the song with a protest chant is inspired. There isn’t really much else to say about the song its fairly straight forward. More of this in the world please! 

    The album ends with a song called “United States of Israel”. It is a song about the genocide in Palestine. While the song didn’t make my favorite song pick, it contains what I think is the most effective line on the entire album. Its repeated at the very end of the song. In my mind it carries the same weight and gravity of the final lines in the 1983 anti-cold war anthem “99 Red Balloons”. The perfect end to an album about the troubles facing the world today. I don’t know if this is going to make sense to anyone, but much like the end of 99 Red Balloons, in spite of the despair inherent in the scene it paints, I still can’t help but find the line hopeful. After all, nothing manufactured lasts forever and gardens, if left alone long enough, will always grow anew.  

    “We manufactured hell where a garden once grew.”