Review: Such Gold - The New Sidewalk

First off, one must understand that The New Sidewalk isn’t your typical album – it’s an experience. Combining the likes of pop-punk, punk rock, post-hardcore and alternative, Such Gold have created an album that’ll keep you guessing until the last song. A 12-track release, it is an overthrow of their first record, Misadventures, and listeners should be advised to press play with an open mind.
The New Sidewalk is an album any reviewer or listener will have trouble placing. Does it sound like The Story So Far or is it more in the realm of the likes of Rancid? Having an album that can’t be pigeonholed is rare in today’s rock scene and, normally, it backfires on a band - thankfully, it works for Such Gold. For those wanting a taste of Misadventure, there’s “Faced” and “Nauseating”, and throughout the album’s entirety listeners are treated to an array of sounds and melodies, quick tempos, screaming vocals, wailing guitars and hard-hitting drums that’ll have anyone head-banging in support. The album’s urgency seems to build in progression until about three-quarters of the way through, where its brought back down to a nice, slow pace upon the arrival of the closing (and title) track.
Lyrically, the band are stronger and better than ever. Songs like “Don’t Park Next To Me” and “No Cab Fare” show a strength and intricacy a lot of bands seem to miss and overall, each song carries with it a subject matter that’ll relate to the majority of fans. “I Know What I Saw” is probably the most interesting track The New Sidewalk has to offer, having instrumentals that one would normally associate with metal playing under the pop-punk screams of vocalist Ben Kotin.
Overall, The New Sidewalk is a rollercoaster that’ll have you coming back time and time again. Such Gold have greatly expanded their catalogue with the record and it’s encouraging to see how much the band have grown in the two years since Misadventures. Lyrically, musically and vocally it’s the band’s strongest release to date and while it’s sure to have some fans packing their bags under claims that they’ve “changed too much”, the majority are sure to happily embrace the album and solidify why Such Gold is one of the strongest up-and-coming bands in the scene today.
Download: Don’t Park Next To Me
4/5
By Clare Fitzgerald
