“Darkest Days” is the latest release by Turn Two, an excellent quartet based in Neptune City, New Jersey. Heavily promoted by “Symptoms Of Silence,” “Medicine (Black & Blue),” and “Polaroid,” three exceptional singles that you should immediately check out, this material carries six songs in total that vividly showcase all the brilliance, creativity, and musicianship of this incredible band. Lyrically, “Darkest Days” explores various sentiments, relationships, friendships, moods, situations, and circumstances, so it’s a collection of highly relatable tracks that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. For those who somehow missed our previous writings about this outstanding quartet, Turn Two combines several complementary styles to illustrate luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps melodic punk rock comes to mind first, but you’ll undoubtedly notice how some of the finest sonic ingredients borrowed from pop punk, emo, skate rock, alternative, and indie found their way into this sonic equation. With the entire amalgam of music genres at their disposal, Turn Two is more than ready to blow you away with their catchy, memorable, engaging melodic punk rock songs.
“Darkest Days” EP commences with “Limiting,” a highly energetic skatepunk track that vividly showcases what you might expect from the remainder of the material. The band combines some of the finest modern pop-punk elements with the tension, aggression, groove, and pace of early noughties skatepunk music. With the fast-paced, palm-muted riffs on one side and catchy themes, melodies, and harmonies on the other, these experienced musicians shape an effective backdrop for all those impressive vocal harmonies, powerful back vocals, and anthemic singalongs while the rhythm section brings more than necessary punch, groove, and speed to the table. It’s a cleverly constructed introductory piece that will unquestionably appeal to even the pickiest melodic punk rock fans. This epic sonic voyage continues with “That Cat’s Got Soul,” another pacey pop-punk banger that packs another dosage of excellent instrumentations, anthemic singalongs, and superb vocal harmonies. These folks know how to fully stack technically demanding arpeggiated chord progression, heavily distorted riffs, memorable leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers in less than a minute and a half. The bass guitar brings more than necessary warmness, richness, and density through equally intricate low-ends while the drummer keeps everything in line with energetic beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. It’s another excellent composition that will undoubtedly become a staple on many pop-punk playlists.
“Medicine (Black & Blue)” goes even more into technically demanding instrumentations by delivering another barrage of cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed guitar works. It’s nearly mindblowing how every song carries so many fresh, unique, innovative themes, melodies, harmonies, and accentuations while those catchy riffs support everything to the max. In the meantime, the impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing everything Turn Two intended to achieve with this song. These vocal harmonies command attention and guide the listening apparatus while decorating each segment and orchestration to the max. It’s fascinating how much effort these folks invested into these vocal harmonies, and you can tell these lyrics come straight from the heart. They undoubtedly poured heart and soul into this material, and “Medicine (Black & Blue) exemplifies their dedication to the craft. Turn Two continuously explores different pop-punk eras, levitating from mid-nineties to contemporary sound with such ease. “Polaroid” exemplifies their profound knowledge of this longevous music genre, as they incorporated everything you dearly love about pop-punk music. The rhythm section propels everything to new heights with cleverly arranged rhythmic patterns and groovy low-ends while the guitars evoke nostalgia with some of the finest instrumentations you’ll hear on the pop-punk scene nowadays. It’s another standout piece where lead vocal harmonies, back vocals, and singalongs grab you by the collar and refuse to let go long after the song ends.
This epic sonic journey closes with “Symptoms Of Silence” and “Darkest Days” two jaw-dropping skate punk tracks where the intensity and speed of the rhythm section perfectly match catchy, engaging, memorable, otherwordly guitar layers. These tracks define how skatepunk music should sound in 2020. With all those technically demanding guitar shreds, tight riffs, mellow arpeggiated and regular chord progressions, punchy basslines, and flawlessly rhythmic sequences, Turn Two break all the rules and shapeshift the boundaries of so many beloved subgenres, making “Darkest Days” EP such a magnificent debut material that could easily pair with some of the greatest releases delivered by many renowned bands in the past. With the initial notes and beats, it becomes apparent that these talented musicians poured heart and soul into these songs. Their experience, knowledge, creativity, and talent shine through each segment and instrumentation, as they deliver one of the greatest melodic punk rock releases in 2024. “Darkest Days” will not only appeal to longstanding melodic punk rock fans but also newbies and picky music enthusiasts who are seeking cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music. It’s a melodic punk rock masterpiece worth revisiting over and over again. “Darkest Days” is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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