As December Falls - "Join the Club"
This one for party playlists!
As December Falls (branded as A-XII-V) is an up-and-coming Pop Punk four-piece1 from the UK that leans hard into emo vibes with tons of energy and catchy hooks. Join the Club is their third studio album, following releases in 2019 and 2021.
The strength of this album really is its unrelenting energy. It isn’t just Bethany Curtis’ vocals — the whole band really pours everything into the ten tracks on this one. And, really, this is the most interesting thing about this album: each of those ten tracks ranges from a playtime of 2:57 for the shortest track (closing track “Leave”) to 3:33 at the longest (track 2, “Honey”). Now, the 36-second delta may speak to something formulaic in their songwriting process, but, more importantly, is how much of a stink I continually raise when songs and albums feel too brief.
It doesn’t apply here.
The neat thing about the composition and structure of every one of these songs is how dynamic they feel. The songs evolve and change in the manner that I normally expect of long-form music, but on a micro scale. And it’s so brilliantly done, too.
So, not only do the songs carry an anthemic level of energy, but there’s always some new element or some shift in the dynamic which keeps the song interesting and helps it to feel like it’s run a full course by its end. I want more, but I don’t feel cheated or irritated by how short it is.2
Now, the album is still just over thirty minutes in length. Optimally, it would last at least ten minutes more, give us about three more songs.3
Aside from that, the album’s biggest downside is that many of the tracks begin to feel a bit ‘samey’ because the tone and energy is so consistent through the majority of songs. But it doesn’t even get close to ‘grating’ levels because, frankly, the songs are too fucking fun.
“Home” is the biggest outlier, leaning into semi-acoustic instrumentation and structure for a more longing vibe; even with the tonal downturn (which begins with the song which precedes it, “Little By Little”), that energy still surges beneath the surface. The track that follows, “Alive”, sees the energy burst forth in the intro section with expansive instrumentation and composition that feels like an ode to Symphonic Metal acts like Nightwish and Within Temptation.
Join the Club is a fun listen, start to finish. It’s filled with tracks that really just make you want to get up and dance.
Or, you know, hop in circles and kick the air.
Point is, if you like Pop Punk, Emo, or Alt Rock, or if you just love music with energy, don’t sleep on this one.
Rating: Green
Going by information present on Last.fm’s entry for the band. Information on them is, otherwise, scarce, and I can’t be certain of what the band’s composition actually is because there are more images of them as a trio than there are of them as a quartet.
This is a novelty for me, for sure.
I need to point out that there is an Extended Edition which does precisely this, but two of those tracks are live versions of tracks already included on the base album (“Mayday” and “Carousel”).