The Menzingers – Rented World

Upon release, The Menzingers’ On The Impossible Past made waves. A powerhouse of emotional punk rock, the album made the Philadelphia four-piece the defacto punk band of the 2010s. Years from now it’ll be held in the same league as Re-inventing Axl Rose, Suffer, Milo Goes To College, How I Spent My Summer Vacation and Caution among others. Following up an album of such magnitude is a difficult task; and two years later when they finally returned with Rented World – it seems they have fallen short.

Where On The Impossible Past bustled with intensity, urgency and sheer, unfiltered honesty pulling the listener in every direction, Rented World seems muted. The songs play through overly predictably, the lyrics too wordy without the emotional resonance or catchiness of its predecessor and you miss the overly aching yells of Tom May who doesn’t appear nearly enough. Reining everything in, the album lacks the punch that propelled On The Impossible Past and generally takes a step back into the mid-nineties alt-rock days – only with even more production layers.

The most aggravating element is Rented World’s fluctuations between promising and forgettable – as if they’re teasing the listener with songs showing what they could do but never fully capture the momentum. The second single of the album, and opening track, I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore picks up where they left off, a fiery rock anthem about being a gentleman the only way punks can be gentlemen. It leads the album with the right foot forward, but then Bad Things passes by without impact and Rodent – despite a very cleaver chorus – just seems a tad too generic.

The Talk is a balls-to-the-wall punk anthem, merging Green Day with The Clash and gives the album a much needed kick after the abysmal Transient Love that gets skipped over during every play. In Remission, the lead single, has the type of wordy lyricism the band is known for and it works but the same can’t be said for Sentimental Physics.

Rented World still sounds like The Menzingers – Greg Barnett’s vocals are sufficiently distinct enough to ensure that; but it doesn’t feel like one. Every second song falls into the background, overly produced and far too slick without the emotional pull that makes The Menzingers The Menzingers. After On The Impossible Past had such a strong impact, I want Rented World to be carry forward that tradition; but a few dozen listens in and it still hasn’t grown on me.