Review: Turnstile puts more emphasis on community than instrumentation with new record, NEVER ENOUGH.

Is it hardcore? Is it pop rock? Is it metal? Who cares? Turnstile vocalist Brendan Yates puts more emphasis on community than instrumentation with their new record, “NEVER ENOUGH”. The LP is a beautifully mixed goody bag of synthy sweetness, salty and simple guitar riffs, and sour drums. Turnstile has pushed the bar again, stretching their signature hardcore sound with more of the ambience and atmosphere of their previous record, “GLOW ON”.

Photograph by Kyle Myles

While most hardcore bands opt for a visceral, punchy timeline in their records, “NEVER ENOUGH” aims to ease people into the more primal aspects of their music with cries from the synthesizer. This is most evident in the opening title track. The synths act as solid transitions to powerful interludes leading into the next song, “SOLE”.  For better or for worse, these ambient tonal choices have expanded the band’s reach into the mainstream. 

My soccer coach in middle school used to drill the same line to me every time I tried to do fancy tricks with my feet and failed. He’d say, “KISS, Johnmark, KISS!” (Keep It Simple, Stupid). It seems like Coach Lawrence made his way into the guitar portions of this record. I enjoy a great prog rock record, but there is something to be said about how power chords don’t make you guess how you’re supposed to feel towards the tunes. In “LIGHT DESIGN”, the chords transport you to the open door of flying chords which lean the listener into retrospective thoughts. The overwhelming lyrical positivity from Brendan in all of these songs are enough to make me run through a brick wall in the name of love.

I can’t disagree with some of the hardcore gatekeepers. Turnstile’s new record has lost a smidgen of raw intensity that has been shown through previous endeavors. The trade-off for that omission, however, is well worth it to me. The recruiting of our lord and savior, Hayley Williams, for the song “SEEING STARS” takes more of an art-pop approach. We’ve seen the band lean into this before and it goes just as well, with Williams’s ethereal vocals gracing around Yates’s before a sexy guitar solo. It’s unprecedented for a hardcore band to switch up this hard. It’s executed in SPECTACULAR fashion. My personal favorite is “BIRDS”, which has carried some online speculation to its similarities to No Doubt’s 2001 track “Hella Good”. They share the same key and some of the bounce on the second half of the song.

Turnstile made a record showing the sexier and more palatable sides of hardcore music. They may have lost some of the fans who prefer the grittier edge of traditional HC. Looking at the big picture, they’re paving another lane for anyone to enjoy heavy music that crosses generational gaps as well. It’s a feat all musicians strive for; Turnstile keeps it simple and breaks out of the genre glass ceiling that plagues most heavy bands. That’s why it’s a Turnstile summer now.