“Memory Tattoos” is the latest release by Bad Valentines, a superb Finnish quintet based in Helsinki. It’s their debut extended play release released on April 24th that will immediately appeal to all those music enthusiasts who appreciate perfectly crafted and flawlessly performed music. Heavily promoted by “Mariia” and “Last Days In The Sun,” two excellent singles released in 2024 and 2025, this exceptional extended play showcases the amalgamation of experience, knowledge, creativity, and talent. Lyrically, “Memory Tattoos” explores various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, so it’s a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. Sonically, Bad Valentines combines many complementary subgenres of rock music to create lush sonic imagery that will appeal to anyone. Perhaps garage rock comes to mind first, but you’ll unquestionably notice how some of the fundamental elements of punk rock, pop punk, action rock, glam rock, and rock ‘n’ roll found their way into this sonic equation. Bad Valentines use all these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to elevate these songs to new heights while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Bad Valentines continuously levitate between the late sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties sound yet there are vividly hearable additions of modern qualities that meet all the trends in contemporary music production. Their sonic output is gritty yet polished at the same, allowing melodies to coexist with rawness. These experimentations with different approaches and complementary styles resulted in a catchy, memorable, engaging material that will appeal not only to the fans of the mentioned music genres but anyone looking for incredible rock ‘n’ roll music.
This epic sonic journey commences with “Last In The Sun,” an incredible composition that evokes the best days of classic punk rock music. These experienced musicians fully stacked this track with all those qualities of the mentioned music genres, but there’s always more. You’ll notice a sixties garage and power pop lurking around. The colossal wall of raw, abrasive, gritty distortion collides with all those melodies, harmonies, and other soft, ear-appealing sonic maneuvers. The years of playing shows and recording music are vividly hearable in each riff, chord progression, accentuation, lead, bassline, beat, and vocal harmony and Bad Valentines are not afraid to showcase all their weaponry in sonic arsenal. Their music arrives like a sharp razor wrapped in a bubblegum wrap, in the best possible way. “Summer Ends In June” carries even more power pop qualities than the previous track. Think of Blonde, The Runaways, and The Pretenders meeting X, MC5, The Stooges, and Slade and working together on some fresh tunes. However, it’s very important to mention that Bad Valentines does not mimic any of these bands. Quite the contrary, they’re solely dedicated to crafting their fresh, unique, versatile, innovative style, and “Summer Ends In June” vividly showcases their songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities. It’s nearly mindblowing how they managed to stay loyal to the genres they unquestionably love with all their hearts and souls yet craft an entirely new sonic universe. While listening to this material, you’ll get the feel that you’ve been introduced to the genre for the first. It’s sort of an excitement rarely heard or seen nowadays, especially on the music scene where band usually mimic their idols or other contemporary bands. But not Bad Valentines. They created a space of their own, a place where punk rock, garage rock, and power pop get a brand new shape and form.
“Mariia” is another excellent piece where the band demonstrates all their musical abilities. It’s an energetic composition that carries some of the finest instrumentations you’ll hear in a while. First of all, the soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, and powerful vocal performance elevates everything to new heights, commands attention, and guides listening apparatus from scratch to finish. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing everything Bad Valentines intended to achieve with this track. You’ll hear how additional vocal layers, back vocals, and singalongs contribute more detail and complexity to an already intricate structure, making “Mariia” even more appealing to the ears. Of course, the guitars shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. The interplay between rhythm and lead guitars showcases how good these guitar players truly are. You’ll stumble upon all those excellent riffs and catchy chord progressions, perfectly paired with all those memorable leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, accentuations, and other sonic maneuvers. This collision of wondrous instrumentation continues at “Carry Me Home,” a perfect closing track that cements Bad Valentine’s position on today’s music landscape. Besides another barrage of fascinating vocal harmonies and blasting guitars, you’ll notice how the equally impressive rhythm section reigns supreme. The collection of intricate, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumbles beneath the guitar works, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while serving as a glue between mentioned instrumentations and drums. These low-ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, contributing more power, depth, and groove to these songs. In the meantime, the exceptional drumming performance based upon tastefully assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keep everything in line while dictating groove and tempo. Bad Valentines thought about every detail while writing and composing these songs, making this EP such a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again.
“Memory Tattoos” is a perfect debut, a masterpiece carrying four excellent compositions that will immediately get into your ears, tackle all of your senses, and refuse to let go long after the last notes and beats fade. These songs will be right up your alley if you’re looking for catchy and memorable punk rock and garage rock songs wrapped in power pop qualities. Therefore, do not miss this gem. “Memory Tattoos” is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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