By Genre: Punk, Emo
Favorite Tracks: “Stay Golden,” “Weird Ending Explained, Pt. 1,” “Happy Again,” “Epic Season Finale,” “Weird Ending Explained, Pt. 2”
On their sophomore full-length STAY GOLDEN, Baltimore punk and emo band Combat assemble a persuasive argument for persevering through dread with speedy, catchy rippers. When listening through the string of lo-fi EPs the band released leading up to their 2022 debut, TEXT ME WHEN YOU GET BACK, it was clear that frontman Holden Wolf possessed an undeniable charm as a songwriter. Even as a teenager, he had the proper instincts to emulate the melodic styles of bands like Bomb the Music Industry! and Joyce Manor. While these are still present influences on the band’s new album, they have now harnessed their creativity to pull together a far more ambitious work.
At just 20 years old, Holden Wolf may say that he’s burnt out, but his band is in peak form. Each member plays with a tightness and precision far beyond previous records. With production by Origami Angel’s Ryan Heagel, this was an inevitability, but the guitar and drum lines themselves are each far more intricate as well. Wolf has a newfound comfort singing in his upper register, making for an especially striking performance. Much attention has undoubtedly gone into both the lyrics and arrangements. Phrases not just from earlier in the album, but also earlier in Combat’s discography are referenced across the record. For example, the self-doubt-filled chorus of TEXT ME WHEN YOU GET BACK’s “Diminished” turns up on the eight-minute centerpiece “Weird Ending Explained Pt. 1.” Wolf acknowledges these callbacks on this track: “Gonna write another record / Reference all my past endeavors / I’ve got sharper claws and leitmotifs.” These choices imbue the record with the cohesion of a rock opera, without some of the format’s cheesier trappings.
On songs like “Full Speed Ahead” and “Happy Again,” even as Wolf wallows in misery, he finds a support system through his friends and his DIY community. So while at first glance, the record could seem nihilistic, there’s a will in these songs to struggle onward. STAY GOLDEN is an album with the power to inspire strength.
It would be impossible to describe my relationship with the music of Combat without acknowledging the first time the band graced my ears. A couple years ago, I moved to Los Angeles from Iowa City to accept a marketing job in the indie music industry. Before long, I became disgusted with my job for a variety of reasons that would only bog down this review. When I couldn’t do it anymore, I quit. It was impulsive and unplanned—in my desperation I took on an immediate-employment, commission-based job. A week into work, on a day where I worked nine hours, only to not make a single commission, I realized I had put myself in an untenable position. Dejected and unsure of the future, I got in my car and played the new single from an emo band I’d seen some buzz about online: “Stay Golden” by Combat. I heard the simple yet frenetic lead riff, and the bright hits of glockenspiel. I heard the cartoonishly direct lyrics of the chorus: “I don’t think this is going to work / But motherfuck this shit still hurts.” I thought: Wow, this is exactly the kind of music I want to listen to all the time.
Now I work as a barista. When I’m done serving coffee, I’ll go home and write a song for my bedroom-punk project suzie’s world record, or play bass with my shoegaze band Steel Wool. I’ll pre-record the radio show that I co-host with my best friend, or write about an album I love. Many of us are doomed to work jobs we hate for the rest of our lives. But we don’t live to work jobs we hate. It could potentially be that, as Wolf sings on “Epic Season Finale,” “[the] music industry isn’t made out for me.” Sitting in my car, Combat offered a simple but nonetheless convincing reason to exist: to listen to guitar pop songs with high BPMs and dance around with my friends.
Comments