Hopeless US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Following their signing to the immensely impressive roster of pop-punk-centric label Hopeless Records, Welsh upstarts (soon to turn megastars) Neck Deep made good on all of the promise of their 2014 debut full-length Wishful Thinking with their breakout sophomore effort Life's Not Out To Get You in 2015. Linking up with A Day To Remember vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, former guitarist-turned-engineer Tom Denney and producer Andrew Wade down in Florida, the guidance and input from more seasoned veterans helped elevate the band's hardcore-adjacent blend of anthemic, saccharine pop-punk to staggering new heights, leading to somewhat of a torch-passing between bands as Neck Deep's stratospheric ascent can likely be drawn back to the success of this second LP. Now, courtesy of their ever-supportive label-home, the album lands back on wax after too long an absence.

Review: The eighth full-length from Floridian pop-punk legends New Found Glory marked their first as a four-piece following the controversial ejection of founding guitarist Steve Klein, and would serve as a creative reappraisal of the band's sonic trajectory at that time. Reverting from the accessible easycore of 2011's Radiosurgery, the follow up Resurrection would land in 2014 with a monumental chug-fest of anthemic breakdowns gelled to the type of earworm pop hooks ghost writers could only dream of penning. Featuring guest vocals from Anthony Raneri of Bayside on 'Stubborn' and (a pre-global success) Brendan Yates of Turnstile on the blistering closer 'On My Own'; Resurrection proved beyond a shadow of doubt that just because they were on the ropes, did not mean that New Found Glory would go down any other way than swinging, while what initially appeared to be their potential swansong, ultimately became a rejuvenation (or resurrection) as the band have continued to put out new albums all the way up to this day.