Home Front’s Watch It Die is a record I keep coming back to in a year overflowing with standout punk. It carefully curates its elements like a best of mixtape of punk, new wave, and some industrial hits. It’s a catalog of what punk is, and it forges a path forward for what it can be.
Two years after their album Games of Power, the Edmonton group delivers a record that feels even more focused and dynamic. Graeme Mackinnon’s voice moves between a street punk shout and a reflective croon, Clint Frazier’s drums and synths carve out a world that feels lived in and urgent, and every track lands as a complete idea. Coming back to the album, each listen connects to a different mood and makes another song snap into place in my daily life.
The hooks are sharp.
The energy hits hard.
There’s a depth running through the whole album that gives it real staying power.
Home Front’s sound smashes synth and punk together in a way that feels nostalgic and intense. When the band plays live the two worlds crash together and the whole thing fucking explodes. There’s melody and menace in equal measure, and that combination is rare.
This album wrestles with the concept of death, but it leaves the listener holding onto life more tightly. There’s real emotional depth here, wrapped in something still catchy and meaningful. I’ve been a diehard my whole adult life, and this feels like a love letter from one lifer to another. There are clear influences from punk predecessors like late era Blitz and Angelic Upstarts, while openly taking from Joy Division and New Order, but no other bands are pulling it off like this.
Watch It Die is worth your time, and honestly, after a listen, it might make whatever you’re wrestling with feel a little more survivable.
Some Standout tracks from the reviewers at Tattoo Punks
Josh: Dancing with Anxiety, Empire
Greg: New Madness
Davey: The Vanishing, Young Offender
Written by: @daveydestruct
Photos by: @daveydestruct