Album/EP

The Interrupters - In the Wild (Album Review)

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

/10

Aug 3, 2022

7 min read

The Interrupters - In The Wild
Released: August 5, 2022

Lineup:

Aimee Interrupter | Vocals
Kevin Bivona | Guitar
Jesse Bivona | Drums
Justin Bivona | Bass

Online:

Official Website
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Sometimes when you hear a new album you get so caught up with a couple of catchy tunes that you don’t realise the album is mostly filler. There’s plenty of them out there and while they might be fun for a while they never stand the test of time. In The Wild is not that kind of album. In fact, I think this is one that is going to continue growing on fans for a long time to come. It’s infectious, it’s clever, it’s insightful, and it reinforces something we’ve all known about The Interrupters for a long time - they can write the absolute fuck out of a chorus. If you’re unfamiliar with The Interrupters then imagine that you had Rancid, Dirty Heads, The Aggrolites, and Sublime all thrown in a centrifuge to remove their flaws and then distilled to perfection in fine oak to find the best possible sound. Okay, maybe that metaphor doesn’t exactly track but the point is that they’re really, really great and should get familiar fast.

The fourth album from the LA four-piece seems to be their most personal effort yet - the album seemingly drawing on Aimee Allen’s (aka Aimee Interrupter) rough upbringing to find a somber but righteous tone. The album sets the tone immediately with the powerful opening track ‘Anything Was Better’ - a testament to the strength that can be found in taking charge of your life and following your passion. It’s also the first indicator that the band are all growing as songwriters - lyrically the song is gripping but more than that the band knows when to back off and where to attack. Guitarist Kevin Bivona really utilises the full spectrum with his sound - knowing when to back off and let the songs breathe but also when to come in hard. It accents the important parts of the songs without feeling over produced.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KWvN78Z8YU8

On previous albums, the band has utilised the insanely talented Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy, and so on… you know who is) as producer, but this time the band moved to a home studio setup and had Kevin handling producer duties. The result speaks for itself - this might be their strongest album yet. The guitar tone is dialled perfectly, the drums and bass fill the room, and the songwriting is as good as you’ll get. I’m not sure who is responsible for the vocal hooks but they are absolutely perfect - the way that Aimee’s flow locks into a hook is just magical. This one will really get inside your head.

‘Raised by Wolves’ is the most affecting track on the album and it really reached me personally. Aimee had her father leave when she was very young and was forced into foster care through her childhood. It feels like the absence of her father forced Aimee to learn life’s lessons the hard way and find guidance in unconventional figures. I’ve recently become a father myself and this song in particular makes me think about the legacy I will leave for my child. Will I make the same mistakes my parents made? Will I fail her? Will she have to go it on her own because I’m not cut out for it? I guess I’m saying stuff like this hits different now. And holy shit does it hit hard. I love music that provokes introspection and the entire album really reaches me.

All that aside I do wonder if ‘Wolves’ is a vague reference to Rancid. Their …And Out Come the Wolves album is one of the biggest punk albums of all time and given the relationship between The Interrupters and Rancid’s Tim Armstrong (who appears on this album) it feels like a subtle nod at the very least.

In The Wild is great in that it never feels complacent. The Interrupters are at a point in the career where they could probably just retread old ground and put out a passable album but while In The Wild is distinctively an Interrupters album it also flirts with every part of their influence - genre-hopping from the dancehall-inspired ‘As We Live’ to doo-wop before mellowing out with the final haunting track, ‘Alien’. Overall, this eclectic mix of genres ties into the overall energy of the album.

It’s early days but I think this might be my favourite Interrupters album. I thought 2019’s Fight The Good Fight would be pretty tough to top - it’s an incredibly solid album - but In The Wild is just that great. Get out there and give it a spin, this one is worth your time.