damn the days we took for granted (The Menzingers - Rented World)

The Menzingers - Rented World

Why you'll love it:  Catchy dark melodic-punk anthems

Why you'll hate it: Lacks impact, worse version of previous album

If I weren't typing away at a computer, there would be crumpled up reviews of Rented World overflowing out of my wastebasket.  I don't think I've ever reset my views on this album so many times.  I'm still not certain what to think of it after all these months.  This isn't the first time the Menzingers have played with their fanbase's expectations before.  In 2010, they yanked the rug out from under their core punk base by eschewing hard hitting battle cries for melodic rough-edged anthems .

Their new formula wasn't perfected until 2012's On The Impossible Past.  A textbook example of lightning in a bottle.  It captured the mindset of an aging punk perfectly.  The cynicism, the heartache, the nostalgia, the uncertain future... It's an album that came at the right time for the band, and the right time for its audience.  And now for the cursed task of following such a thing up...

I should start by pointing out that Rented World is a more than competent album, performance wise.  There are countless amounts of memorable hooks.  Greg Barnett and Tom May give enthusiastic and emotional vocal performances.  The progression in "Bad Things" is powerful.  The drums and guitars impressively swirl around in "My Friend Kyle".  The opening guitar stings of "I Don't Want To Be An Asshole Anymore" is the best possible start for this album.  This is a perfect road trip sing-along in your car album.  It's just too bad nothing on this album speaks to me in the same way anything had on The Impossible Past.

And that's the trouble I'm having thinking about this album.  Did I change?  On paper, Rented World has what I want from The Menzingers checklist.  There is a ton of pessimism here, but on songs like "Nothing Feels Good Anymore" and "Rodent" it feels a little too forced.  There are lines from "In Remission" and "Where Your Heartache Exists" that I could very well be mis-interpreting, but make me shake my head every time.

I'm also turned off by how the band is selling themselves in the music videos fro this album.  Way too fun-loving and trying to be clever for my taste.  I picture The Menzingers in a dank bar sharing stories over cheap whiskey, not doing corny rom-com parodies and performing in a cascade of party favors.  Again, this all could be entirely my fault.  I could just be salty that the band isn't portraying themselves in the manner I envisioned.

Maybe On The Impossible Past was a "right place / right time" kind of thing.  Or maybe The Menzingers missed the mark here.  One week I'm calling Rented World a big disappointment.  The next, I'm listening to it while I exercise or write, and find myself enjoying it.  All I can say for sure is that this album could have been better.  Whatever comes next, I hope the band doesn't feel compelled to recreate something that just isn't there anymore, and really changes their tone or approach.