BlackWristBand‘s debut album, My Escape, has many moods and journeys through different genres, but mostly punk. It’s an album from the mind of John McGeown, who wrote all the songs and played all the instruments in what is an exercise in life, heartbreak, and reflections throughout its ten tracks. If there’s one thing apparent, it’s that McGeown wears his heart on his sleeve through a myriad of genres, and that is by no means a bad thing.
My Escape opens with “Split Open,” a Jawbreaker-esque song about friendship and growing up. It’s a great opening to an album that has the influential band’s fingerprints all over it. “Soap Box” is about as political as this album gets, establishing that these songs will be his mouthpiece for fighting back. “Soap Box” does a good job of harnessing the opening song’s energy without letting it waver too much or too little. McGeown takes a turn with his next couple of tracks, “Second Chances” and “Just the Same,” by showing off his poppier punk skills. Some pop punk can border on sounding the same, but McGeown’s lyrics are what sold me on these tracks. My favorite track has to be side one closer and Midwest emo-tinged, “Eternal Rest.” it is a bit of an outlier from the others with the exception of the last song on the album, the reverb tinged “Vastness.”
The jump from “Eternal Rest” to “In the Mouth of the Beast” was a bit of a weird transition for me. I feel like it would work better if you were listening on an actual record you had to flip rather than streaming or on a CD, but side two’s opening track is a great ride, nonetheless. Very reminiscent of 90s punk rock bands, “Mirror” and “Time” give great perspective and self-reflection in a couple more mid-tempo melodic punk rock songs. Another highlight of the album is “I Don’t Care,” a song that bounces back and forth between apathy and disinterest. Its lyrics hit home for an older millennial who wavers who sometimes does the same thing. I also think I heard a little nod to Nirvana’s “Breed” in the middle of the song.
While I wouldn’t call this album riff-heavy, it is definitely melodic in several places. It’s been a minute since I heard an album that felt so cohesive in theme while being so diverse in sound. While it does jump around genres, John McGeown does a great job with each one.