Album Review: Pity Party – “Sick Sad World Survival Guide”

SBAM Records – 25 August 2023

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I’ll be honest, I was pretty damn disappointed to discover that the majority of the material on the latest EP from Oakland California’s Pity Party is actually four songs from 2016’s Gnarbage with a fresh facelift. However, the more I listened to Sick Sad World Survival Guide, the more the differences started to show themselves, some subtle some not so but, more importantly, how much I appreciated the growth of the musicians themselves. The lack of fear in fine tuning and fixing something that wasn’t broken. As a musician and someone who’s made a few records I can certainly relate to the desire to revisit and rework something given the time to reflect (and the ghosts of fuck ups past that continue to haunt me) and I’m glad they did. 

Screaming from the start, they slide into “Suicide Handbook” with punishing power chords alongside a slick lead line supported by a pounding rhythm section, but soon swap the screams for a soft spoken narration and palm mutes as they reach the verse. The chorus is loaded with a repetitive high gain lead riff which compounds its catchiness. Is it a few clicks faster than its previous iteration or just more polished? Either way they’re down to address their own demons. “You said shit would get better, all I have are bad days” “Waste Of Life” reminds me a little of Sad Girlz Club with some four chord flair and a lead riff that follows the vocal melody before giving way to muted chords and a syncopated transition while “Booze Cruz” sees the lead lines follow the vocal melody again in the opening, seemingly a staple in their bag of tricks, but dances to a more down tempo drummer, building into somewhat of a break beat before a series of ring outs. “Gnarbage,” on the other hand, picks up the pace and reminds me somewhat of The Bombpops, with double time drum beats, a simple yet searing solo in the pre and post chorus and, drum roll please… once again the lyrical delivery is holding hands with the guitar strings. Doing it and doing it and doing it well. 

Now that we have the old stuff out of the way, “Ionize My Enemies,” the only original new track on the new EP, builds slowly in the beginning after opening the song singing through gritted teeth which seems to exemplify the anger and vitriol of the substance of the sentiments contained within before bouncing it’s way into a mid tempo, gritty and guitar heavy track that hits peaks and valleys in intensity, ending just as softly as it started until, last but not least… IT’S BRITNEY BITCH! “Toxic” to be exact and for a moment I thought maybe they were her new backing band but the Queen B cover sounds to me like Whitney Flynn of Days N’ Daze sitting in with Marilyn Manson or maybe Gogol Bordello gone Gaga? The clean acoustic guitar plays a bit of back and forth with it’s electrified counterpart and the voice tones run from one end of the spectrum to the other giving this surprisingly heavy and harmonic take on the pop goes punk offering a folk punk feel. Nailed it!

The vocals scream Jeckyl and Hyde going from sickeningly sweet to downright demonic, the backing vocals a choir of calamity as if every conceivable emotion is layered in on top of one another. There are definitely contrasts but the singing sounds more clear and comfortable, just dripping with confidence in comparison to the previous recordings while being woven tightly with high gain guitars. It’s hotter than hell! The older songs feel fresh and the new stuff sounds refreshing, there’s certainly something to be said for taking already good songs and making them great. I’m definitely a fan of the darker direction the band is headed in and, if this is any indication of what a future full length might sound like, I’m all ears!