Neck Deep's Lovestruck 'All Distortions Are Intentional' Is Their Catchiest Yet

BY Eva ZhuPublished Jul 23, 2020

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Welsh quintet Neck Deep have been pop-punk heavyweights since the release of their debut album, 2014's Wishful Thinking, amassing dedicated fans from around the world and going on countless tours. Their newest album All Distortions Are Intentional, filled with 12 absolute jams, proves yet again why they're at the top of their game.

Unlike their previous three releases, the band decided to create a cohesive narrative this time around. The album starts with "Sonderland," a drum-heavy song about a depressing town where citizens are addicted to conformity. The narrator, Jett, wants to find something better.

On "Fall," arguably the song with the second-catchiest chorus (nothing can touch "What Took You So Long"), Jett falls hard for a girl and realizes he's found "a little slice of heaven" with her. Then, on "Lowlife," we learn that her name's Alice and that she's way out of his league. He drinks coffee on a trampoline while she's "perfectly clean." Jett hates everyone else and unironically calls them "normies."

The albums flow is broken by "Quarry." It's short, monotonous and borders on emo rap. The song takes listeners out of Jett's relationship with Alice and throws them into unfamiliar territory.

The sickeningly cute songs about love are back with "What Took You So Long." Other than having the catchiest chorus, it truly showcases just how confident lead singer Ben Barlow is in his relationship. While these songs are about Jett and Alice, the inspiration seems to comes from Barlow's real-life love for his girlfriend.

After almost an entire album full of love songs, the album ends with a reminder to live life how you want to, since we'll be "Pushing Daisies" anyways.

If you're a fan of pop-punk and romance, don't sleep on this album, because All Distortions Are Intentional might be Neck Deep's best work yet.
(Hopeless)

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