Sing-a-long-ready single ‘Camouflage’ sees Sella reflect “and to think I was having a mental breakdown / The same time you were painting your walls,” while on the rousing, poppy-banger ‘Jerk’ he announces “the world is so fucked / I wanna go back in the house.” The anxiety is palpable. It’s this tried-and-tested approach that makes the stories on ‘In Sickness & In Flames’ so relatable. Sella knows that life is absurd, and that often the best approach is to laugh in the face of adversity. The Front Bottoms have never shied away from their juvenile sense-of-humour – just look at their name – and this is integral to their worldview. “My attitude, my outlook / I realise now it matters”: Sella repeats the words like a mantra over acoustic guitar, before the song explodes once more at the line “everyone blooms / In their own time,” the jubilant medium matching the message that “you’re gonna be fine fine fine”.
This is most evident on emo-influenced, energetic album opener ‘Everyone Blooms’, which scythes from minimalist, tightly wound bass and vocals to a maximalist, pounding chorus. With ‘In Sickness & In Flames’, they point towards growth and, eventually, stability. Tackling themes of difficult break-ups, self-sabotage and anxiety, guitarist and vocalist Brian Sella and drummer Mathew Uychich tap into the seemingly eternal adolescence that spools into your early thirties. The New Jersey folk-punk band took a creative risk with 2017’s synth-packed ‘Going Grey’, and ‘In Sickness & In Flames’ finds them returning to more familiar territory, confirming their ability to mine millennial angst with verve. With album seven, The Front Bottoms have crafted a sharp and unflinching collection that harks back to the magic of their 2011 self-titled debut.
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