Redhook – Postcard From A Living Hell (Album Review)
Redhook – Postcard From A Living Hell
Released: April 21st, 2023
Lineup
Emmy Mack | vocals
Ned Jankovic | bass
Alex Powys | drums
Craig Wilkinson | guitars
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Surely most Aussies who like heavy music know who Redhook are - I discovered them in 2019 when I heard and swiftly became aware of ‘Paralysed’, and I’ve been lucky to see them a few times. They’ve graced rad stages like Good Things Festival twice (the only band to do it), are currently supporting The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction, heading off on their biggest-ever headline tour in May and with all that going on, can you believe this is their debut album? Let’s get into it!
We start strong with ‘Postcard Xo’, a dancey, hard-hitting ode to vocalist Emmy Mack’s mental health struggles, self-harm and self-sabotage. It's full of spitting vocals and rad guitar riffs. Even with tough lyrics like “I’m feeling worthless // probably deserve it”, - it is still upbeat and circle-pit worthy.
The entire album deals with some heavy themes across the board, and the second song, ‘Jabberwocky’, is no different. The song talks about sexual assault – something many people, especially femmes have sadly experienced and came from Emmy’s terrifying personal experience and the trauma that followed. It's wild that it still needs to be said, but if you’re the kind of person who thinks they can touch other people without their permission- fuck you!
This album has a lot of different sounds across the eleven songs. There’s the frantic and furious ‘Off With Your Head’, which has incredible drums and bass, the synth-filled rock jam ‘Imposter Ft. Yours Truly’ featuring the excellent Mikaila Delgado and rap vibed metalcore tune ‘Psych Vs. Psych’.
There are also features aplenty, of course, in ‘Imposter’, Sly Withers joining for ‘Soju’ which is a fun taking-the-piss-out-of-themselves pop-punk song complete with a sexy sax solo (I bloody love some sexy sax) and the beautiful slowed-down alt-rock Ballard ‘Inarticulate Ft. The Faim’. ‘Inarticulate’ starts with gorgeous guitars and shows off Emmy’s clean vocals before building to add a wall of guitars, fantastic drums and even some acoustic strumming towards the end. Every time I listen to this song - I am covered in goosebumps. I cannot wait to see this one live!
The hard-hitting ‘SAY’ closes out the album and looks at misogyny, especially in the music scene – again coming from Emmy’s personal experience. Here at Wall of Sound, we have a particular dislike of industry dinosaurs, and this song is, sadly, incredibly relatable. Another well-deserved fuck you to those peeps, I say.
This album spans sounds, genres, themes and features, and while that might sound a little hodge-podge, it all works incredibly well together and shows the range of this band. Even though the themes are heavy, they are dealt with in relatable ways and put to the sound of fun, upbeat, heavy music. This is more of a reclaiming yourself album than a sitting in your feels one. You will find yourself dancing with your middle fingers up to everyone who wronged you but thanking them because they taught you a valuable lesson, and you’re better than them anyway.
Redhook - Postcard From A Living Hell Tracklisting
1. Postcard Xo
2. Jabberwocky
3. Off With Your Head
4. The Critic
5. Imposter feat. Yours Truly
6. Soju feat. Sly Withers
7. Psych Vs. Psych
8. Low Budget Horror
9. An Intervention
10. Inarticulate feat. The Faim
11. SAY
Rating: 8/10
Postcard From A Living Hell is out April 21st. Pre-Order here
Review by Cait Macca @cait_2tone
