Sixteen Scandals – Dorkmantwo: Hellapropisms CD

Let’s face it: sometimes we all need melodic punk rock to get through the day. There’s something about all those catchy, memorable, engaging power chords and beautiful themes, melodies, and harmonies that simply works every time. If you’ve been paying attention to what’s happening on a contemporary underground scene, you’ve probably noticed that Canada always has so many incredible bands worth checking out, and that’s the case again. Recently, we stumbled upon “Dorkmantwo: Hellapropisms,” one of the latest recordings by Sixteen Scandals, and it’s one of those recordings you should definitely put on our music radar as soon as possible if you love heavy, loud, grungy pop punk music. Released by Cartridge Heart Records on a compact disc on July 25, this material consists of ten marvelous, infectious, addictive songs that immediately wrap around your listening apparatus and refuse to let go long after the last notes and beats fade away. Sonically, Sixteen Scandals build their sound around everything melodic punk rock has to offer. Surely, many things are going on, as the band takes all the fundamental elements of melodic punk rock and implement them in each composition, but you can hear how skate punk, pop punk, indie punk, grunge, and garage found their way into this sonic equation. These experimentations with so many subgenres resulted in a fresh, unique, innovative sound that continuously delivers the right amounts of melody, harmony, rawness, and aggression. It’s melodic enought to lean entirely into pop punk or indie punk waters yet aggressive, heavy, and powerful at times, catering to grunge, garage, and alternative rock audiences. And the best part about the entire “Dorkmantwo: Hellapropisms” is how it’s written, composed, arranged, recorded, and produced to perfection. You’ll notice everything these folks intended to achieve with a fine piece of sonic artistry. It’s definitely an album you should not miss.

With the opening notes and beats, you are treated to a marvelous auditory experience, rarely heard or seen nowadays. Sixteen Scandals know how to craft sonically luxuriant and emotionally resosnant composition that tackle all the senses in the right way. Their music immediately transports you to the late nineties and early noughties, an era when pop punk unquestionably ruled the airwaves. Yet, as you dig deep into this comprehensive collection, you’ll notice how the band stacked “Dorkmantwo: Hellapropisms” with qualities that meet all the trends of modern music production. Sixteen Scandals caters to both longtime melodic punk rock fans and newbies to the genre in a clever, thoughtful, and beautiful way, offering a slice of modern pop punk that never feels predictable, repetitious, bland, or boring. Quite the contrary, from the opening notes to the ending beats, you’ll hear many fresh vocal harmonies, sonic maneuvers, and rhythmic acrobatics. The vocals are a bit raspy, grungy, yet clean enough to suit all those tastefully assembled guitar riffs. There is more than enough emotion, depth, complexity, and melody involved in this vocal performance, elevating everything the band intended to achieve with their music. The lead vocalist unquestionably commands attention, contributes emotional depth, and serves as a catalyst by conveying all those meaningful lyrics. The guitars shine throughout the entire material by delivering all those heavy, powerful, tastefully distorted riffs, power chords, and chord progressions on one side, while the other shines with more than enough themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers you could possibly take in one listening session. These interplays are so carefully, tastefully, and wisely assembled that it will satisfy even the pickiest music enthusiasts interested in pop punk and indie punk music. Beneath these lush guitar works, you’ll notice how the bass plays delivers a thick wall of low ends, providing more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth to the recording. These deep, dense, heavy, warm-sounding basslines bring groove and depth without ever overwhelming the remainder of the orchestration, proving that the band thought about everything while assembling this material. In the meantime, every hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation on hi-hat, splash over cymbals plays a significant role in keeping everything together. All those expertly assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics dictate groove, dynamics, and pace, making this material so energetic and appealing to the ears.

Sixteen Scandals has crafted an outstanding pop-punk album, suitable for even the pickiest punkrockers out there. “Dorkmantwo: Hellapropisms” is a collection of beautiful, melodic, emotionally resonant punk rock tunes that, once you press play, immediately penetrate your listening apparatus and refuse to let go. If you love your pop punk as abrasive, heavy, gritty yet harmonious, melodic, and honest as possible, then you should place “Dorkmantwo: Hellapropisms” on your music radar immediately.