Album Review: Stoke Signals, Make Dying Fun, out Sept. 20

Written By Christian Cole, OOTB Publications

This week’s LP comes to us all the way from Los Angeles, California; home of melodic-punk rockers Stoke Signals who are prepping for the release of their debut album Make Dying Fun, releasing September 20th.

Stoke Signals MAY be readying for their first full length record, but they’re no stranger to the scene. The band rose from the smoldering ashes of TWO bands: Holy Fangs, whose name you can find boasted on the tracklist as the first single on the album, and Promise Me This.

What we get here with Make Dying Fun is a record that DELIVERS—one that showcases a band in their infancy as a UNIT, clearly not just as individuals or musicians.

The nostalgia emanating from the LP is hard to ignore, while it doesn’t force itself upon you or seem to be the objective goal of the record. It scratches that itch of 1990s-2000s skate punk records while never intentionally baiting you in and touching the soft spots of your youth JUST to hold your attention. It’s just THAT GOOD on its own.

At points, I found myself wanting to categorize it as pop-punk, but it never quite reaches that point, it’s simply very good melodic-punk with the accessibility and grab of a pop-punk record. It’s hard not to imagine yourself Noseblunt grinding your way across your favorite Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater level while the record plays through; and as a fan of both punk music and the Tony Hawk series growing up, that is a compliment of the highest effect.

The LP kicks off with a nearly anthemic opening, giving us a taste of the tone for things to follow. “Maybe I should try to get better/maybe I should just stay the same/but if I step out of the gutter/I just might not remember my name,” boasts the album’s opening track “Alternative Medicines,” which comes in with pounding drums and droning power chords.

From the opening moments of the record, the boys in Stoke Signals deliver us lyricism that is tinged with moments of self-reflection—the type that makes this genre exactly what it is. They open the album with a high note and they truly ride that wave for the entire length of its play through.

This is a band that every fan of the genre needs to keep a close eye on. With an explosive first release such as this, it’s hard not to find yourself wondering exactly what these guys will be capable of in the near future.

Get on over to your favorite streaming service and give the single “Holy Fangs” a listen and tell me it doesn’t leave you wanting more. It’s a feel good punk record, one that leaves me excited for the future of a band that is currently in its earlier stages.

Rating

4.2/5

Favorite Tracks

“Neon,” “Leviathan”

Tracklist

01. “Alternative Medicine”

02. “How to Lose a War”

03. “Burning Daylight”

04. “Hook Line and Sinking”

05. “Holy Fangs”

06. “Take the Wheel”

07. “Neon”