Alternative rock music has thrived in recent years, delivering many excellent artists and bands that deserve the utmost attention of the broader audience. However, it seems that many of these music outlets fail to bring some innovative music to the table. It seems like many of them try to reinvent the same old wheel, overly explore influences, or entirely mimic their favorite acts, often delivering something the greats explored and recorded decades ago. So many acts fall into these cliches, making them good, but not worth revisiting over and over again. Thankfully, there are bands like The Party After who know how to write, compose, arrange, record, and produce perfect compositions that will stay with you for decades. “Dopamine Machine,” their recently released full-length album, is more than rock-solid proof, an amalgamation of tremendous skill, talent, creativity, knowledge, and experience housed in ten exceptional songs. With “Blast Off” and “Symmetrism,” two brilliant singles that served as a perfect showcase of what you might expect from the remainder of the material, The Party After positioned themselves as a leading contemporary rock act that brings only the finest qualities of this music genre. However, the remainder of the album carries even more exciting tracks, memorable moments, and plenty of orchestrations worth revisiting every time you crave premium rock music. For inexperienced ears, alternative rock might be the starting point or dominant genre in this sonic equation, but The Party After is more than just another alternative rock act on today’s music landscape. Quite the contrary, these brilliant musicians are deep diving into several complementary music genres at one, exploring various approaches and techniques in order to fully demonstrate their musical abilities. Besides alternative rock, you’ll notice some of the finest properties borrowed from stoner rock, southern rock, hard rock, and grunge. They use all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift their music on an entirely new level, while staying loyal to the primary sonic direction. Their music shines with the qualities that meet all the trends in modern music production, yet you’ll stumble upon subtle touches of nostalgia, evoking some of the finest moments in rock history. They’ll easily throw you back into the seventies, eighties, nineties, and noughties, and transport you back to the present day while not missing a single note or beat. This level of professionalism and dedication to the craft is something that even the greats struggle to achieve after decades of performing, but The Party After does that with such ease and precision. Therefore, these experimentations with complementary styles, various approaches, and different techniques resulted in an impressive collection of catchy, memorable, engaging, and powerful songs that will resonate with anyone who appreciates cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music.
As soon as you press play, this material wraps around the listening apparatus, grabs you by the collar, and guides your voyage through the expansive sonic universe. The soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotive, and powerful vocal performance serves as a centerpiece, serving as a guide as well, commanding attention, and elevating everything to new heights. These vocal harmonies seamlessly balance low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing everything The Party After intended to achieve with this full-length album. Besides decorating all those segments and instrumentations, the vocals provide more than necessary emotional depth and complexity over an already intricate song structure. Tracks like “Blast Off,” One For All,” “Tell Me,” “Happy Hour,” “Desperation (The Rain Dance),” “Symmetrism,” and “Celebrating Nothing” are just some of the examples where the vocals truly shine in the limelight. In the meantime, the guitars shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. The interplays between rhythm and lead guitars deliver that lush, complex, colossal wall of sound that makes this material so catchy, memorable, and engaging. You’ll hear how all those addictive, hypnotic, irresistible leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers shine on one side, while the other resonates with many impressive riffs and chord progressions. It’s nearly mindblowing how all these layers articulate without overwhelming each other, vividly showcasing The Party After’s tremendous dedication to the craft. “Blast Off,” One For All,” “What Are You Waiting For,” “Tell Me,” “Pushin’ Rope,” “Happy Hour,” “Desperation (The Rain Dance),” “Symmetrism,” and “Celebrating Nothing” are compositions where these guitar works stand out the most. Of course, this epic sonic journey wouldn’t be complete without the rock-solid rhythm section. You’ll hear how all those equally impressive, vividly hearable, intricate basslines rumble beneath the mentioned instrumentations, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth with such precision and finesse while serving as a binding element between guitars and rhymic patterns. These low ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, providing more power, groove, and detail to these songs. The exceptional drumming performance based upon wisely arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keeps everything in line while dictating groove and pace. Each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over the hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals cuts through the ambiance, making this sonic voyage even more groovy and complex. Each instrument has its place and purpose here, making this album such a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again.
“Dopamine Machine” is a masterpiece that carries ten excellent rock compositions. There are no skips here, and each track acts as a significant piece of a greater puzzle, crafted to complete the entire story. The Party After poured heart and soul into this material, resulting in one of the best stoner-infused alternative rock albums in years. It’s a masterpiece you should immediately check out. Therefore, you should immediately place it on your music radar. It will immediately become one of your favorite records. “Dopamine Machine” is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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