Now the dozen is complete. And yet it is the first time.
PENNYWISE released their twelfth album "Never gonna die" on April 20, 2018, via Epitaph.
It is the first album with the new, old singer Jim Lindberg.
Has anything changed?
Well, the old saying, Pennywise is Pennywise is Pennywise still holds true.
The band has not changed their style. Why should they?
There are 14 songs.
Fourteen times punk rock.
Fourteen times fast-paced, highly melodic pieces.
Fourteen times lyrics that don’t mince words.
Of course, one could say that the band has not evolved and that their recent releases are very similar.
On the other hand, why should the band change if they are doing what they enjoy and what the audience and fans like?
For me personally, PENNYWISE was a band that blew me away many years ago when I was still young and pretty. They still do, even though I am neither young nor pretty anymore. Marked by age yet still not giving up hope. This sentence fits the band and especially the album.
The band still manages to say a lot with few words. This quality in songwriting is lacking for many. That is also the punk rock spirit, simply stating what’s going on in short, concise sentences. This is very well demonstrated in "American Lies".
But it is also about the "Keep moving on", a mix of getting your ass up and not letting yourself be lulled by all the crap around you. Also, not giving yourself a quick kick through drugs or alcohol, as presented in "She said". A sad song that describes a very human and completely normal situation, and when the person is no longer there, you wonder if you should have done more, yes, had to do more. Of course, this applies in particular to the environment, to animals, to our living space, that’s "Can’t be ignored".
PENNYWISE has not only released a new album. They have rather created a reckoning against everything with this album. Against our world, against our lives.
The fact that this is articulated so clearly is certainly also due to the times we live in.
"Never gonna die" has become an extremely good album musically and lyrically.
PENNYWISE do little differently than before, but a lot right, and that’s exactly why PENNYWISE are more important than ever. A band that still has something to say after twelve albums and does not end up in phrases, platitudes, and clichés, but continues to have courage and strength.
