Neck Deep
Life's Not Out to Get You

It's been a few years now since Neck Deep released two EPs that took listeners by storm. Innovative, bold, gritty, and occasionally nostalgic. They reaffirmed all this with a debut album that gained them a massive audience. In fact, like it or not, Neck Deep represents and is among the main creators of the pop-punk revival that's sweeping the planet. The genre has always split the audience in half; you either love it or hate it, to use a cliché. Many think it's for twelve-year-old girls. Well, that nod to pop could attract some, but that drumming at such speed would deter many. As it stands, without dismantling the world they've created around themselves, Neck Deep returned last year with an album that leans slightly more towards pop than they had done before. Furthermore, there's the touch of A Day To Remember's frontman, who even performs a track. It's easy to hear the influence of this band, as well as the blink-182 influence. But in the end, the album starts well with a strong track and then flows into a fun, summery pop punk, with highs and lows, of course, but the riffs are always catchy, until reaching December, a semi-acoustic ballad giving the album some air, concluding with two tracks that could have been better, but it's fine. So, all in all, they pass, even without inventing anything new. But that's precisely the problem, they remain too similar to before, there's no innovation, no upheaval; it seems the band has learned the formula and repeats it throughout the album. Because reaffirmation is fine, but it can't go on forever; a shift will have to be made, even though in a genre that everyone now plays, presented in every possible way, I see it as quite difficult. The problem is not the present; the group can enjoy it calmly; the problem is the future.