Worlds Worst is a Salt Lake City-based punk band with a very misleading name. They’re not actually the world’s worst.
They’re not even bad. In fact, the only thing they seem genuinely awful at is sucking. Which is generally a good problem for a band to have.
Worlds Worst have been busy during the pandemic, releasing a solid EP in April of 2020 and now following it up with a sequel, frilllessly adorn as EP2.
On this new release, Worlds Worst continues to meld spinny pop-punk and maturely introspective emo- scuffed and scratched for a character with a rash of pedal effects and balmed with a warm reverb that envelopes these tracks in a layer of emotional security, similar to the way a thunder vest can help your dog feel more chill when you have company over. These songs, especially “Balloons,” can feel like one long hug, is what I’m trying to say.
Patient caresses and intimate brushes don’t, necessarily, make for a well-rounded punk record, though. There are also a number of assertive and self-assuredly defiant tracks as well. “Twins” rides a net of highwire guitars above a river of tumbling grooves to find catharsis on the opposite end of a pounding polemic about the theft that occurs at the core of wage labor, and the dreary sonic slosh of “Postal” which feels like space-gaze of Hum collapsing into a current of granite-chipping, hard-tipped Braid riffs.
Worlds Worst is almost certain to improve your day if you give them a chance. And it being a Friday and all, why wouldn’t you? If you’re at work now, go home. If you’re working from home, log off. There will always be more work, but let that be someone else’s problem for a little while. You only have one life, so you might as well enjoy it. Which, as I hope I’ve convinced you here, Worlds Worst can help you luxuriate in if you let them.
The post EP Review: Worlds Worst – EP2 appeared first on New Noise Magazine.
Mick R.
