Strike Anywhere’s “Nightmares of The West”– album review

Nightmares of the West is Strike Anywhere’s first taste of new music in over a decade.

The EP released on July 17th, loaded with seven songs. Let’s take a look and review these tracks.

The EP opens with “Documentary” a song that blurs the lines between pop-punk and hardcore. It gives me Four Year Strong vibes. It is a really good mix of these two styles of music. The song is very fast and sounds perfect for a circle pit. It has a perfect balance of singing and a little bit of screaming. I think this track is the perfect opener to returning from a 10-year pause.

Next on the tracklist is “Dress These Wounds“. It’s another fast song, and to me, it sounds very similar to the first song with the way the guitar and the drums sound. It is a little different though because it has these sections where it gets a little slower and a little quieter, and I really like that contrast. It allows for a good listening experience and helps those two first songs sound a little different from one another while still being similar in makeup.

“The Bells” to me sounds like a harder version of a blink-182 song in regards to the drums and guitar. The vocals help to make the song sound very catchy.

“Frontier Glitch” was released as a single prior to the EP’s release. This song might be my personal favorite on the EP. The guitar solo in it is absolutely insane, and the gritty vocals paired with the speed of the pounding drums is just awesome. It’s a shame this song is only a minute and a half long.

“Imperium Of Waste” is more of a laid back sounding song. It opens with just vocals and guitar, which I think sounds very clean. It builds into the drums and bass, which makes this song sound different than the rest on the release. It’s a great contrast. It’s still heavy, but it feels a bit lighter and upbeat, and I really like that.

“Opener” is a cover of a song by Blocko, a London based band. I think that Strike Anywhere was able to make the song their own, but keep the feel of the original. Their version is a bit rougher, a bit more gritty, and I really like it. It gives another identity to the song.

The last song on the EP is “We Made The Road By Walking“. This track makes the release feel like it comes full circle. It has the same exact energy and sound of the first song, making the EP end on a high, energetic note. This song is one of my favorites as well. It just makes me want to run around and open up a pit in my bedroom. The vocals sound more hardcore, matched with a bit more of a pop-punk sound behind them, I think it sounds really, really great.

Overall, I think that Nightmares of the West is a great EP. It does sound a bit repetitive in some of the songs, but for the first music to be released in over ten years, I think this is a great release to put out to get back into the game. If you need songs to listen to at the gym, or to just vibe too, Nightmares of the West is the perfect release for that.

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