Bayside - Cult

Bayside - Cult

Long Island rockers Bayside last graced us with their presence with 2011's Killing Time. Personally I felt like it was their best work since The Walking Wounded. It featured a largely diverse rang of sound from the band while maintaining their core style of emotional punk infused hard rock. The band follows up that masterpiece with Cult. Can this album reach the same heights as the previous album?

Cult starts off with a fairly heavy anthem titled Big Cheese. Starting with a pounding drum beat it unfolds into a hardrock/punk anthem. It's fairly dark and scathing full on internal angst that are conveyed perfectly through the powerful and dynamic voice of frontman Anthony Raneri. The middle features a nice guitar solo and a chant of the album's title. As an opening song it's almost perfect. The rest of the album fails to build on this however. Musically it's generally more lighthearted and softer. Songs like You're No Match, while lyrically harsh and scornful the music is more befitting a ballad. Pigsty, which was the first single they released, shows a more cohesive sound. Pulling elements of punk, rock, emo, and indie all into one. It's Bayside at their best. 

While probably not as dark or heavy as most fans have wanted this is still a decent album. The production is some of the best so far. As expected almost all the songs are catchy as hell and will stay stuck in your head for a long time after you've finished listening. It's only downfall is really it's inconsistency and the clash between lyrical style and music. Songs like Stuttering and Bear With Me really help keep this album going.

When all is said and done, this album is pure Bayside. Deep, emotional, scorching, lyrics mixed with a diverse selection of style of music pulling elements from almost every genre of rock. It's catchy and most of the lines are sure to stay with you. It's a must listen to any Bayside fan and a good listen for any fans of the emotional rock genre. It's a solid rock album that shows the band hasn't quite thrown in the towel yet (they've been going on 14 years now) and that they're going to continue to rock us.