Bleached

Welcome the Worms (2016)

emma

Bleached's Welcome the Worms is an album that feels like the very definition of good pop punk. It marries the best of the punk attitude with the infectiousness of pop music. It's an album full of emotional growth that you can dance right along to in your bedroom.

It's easy to tell that Welcome the Worms comes from the very personal places of Jennifer and Jessie Clavin and bassist Micayla Grace. It's full of relationship struggles and escapism: the former evident in "I'm All Over the Place (Mystic Mama)" and the latter evident in "Trying to Lose Myself Again", a fast paced song that’s not so difficult to relate to. In fact, the entire ten-song LP is more than easy to relate to. The songs are heartfelt and personal, dealing with issues that nearly everyone faces at one point or another.

The album has a psychedelic feel to it, evident in the opening track and single from the album, "Keep On Keepin' On". It's a track that’ll be stuck in your head for days, and it's doubtful you'll mind all that much. Some tracks will feel right at home on your 80's playlists (such as the aforementioned "Keep on Keepin' On", while others belong more with your grunge mixed tapes, like "Desolate Town". Welcome the Worms isn't just about personal growth and exploration – it's also about the band growing as musicians.

Musically, Welcome the Worms is impressive. A wall of guitars, insistent drum beats, and harmonies (such as those featured in the album’s final track, "Hollywood, We Did It All Wrong") make the album stand out. No two songs on the album sound alike; it's fresh all the way through, and at no point feels repetitive.

If you've lost faith in the integrity of pop punk, then this is the album for you. It's strong all the way through, and it'll make you wish there were more than ten short tracks.