ALBUM REVIEW: Hot Water Music – ‘Vows’

You don’t really go into a Hot Water Music album these days and expect much. Much out of the ordinary, that is. They’re a shining light in alt-punk’s circuit of steadily stellar leaders, where every album is good—maybe even great—for the exact same reasons as the last. That’s true of a lot of ‘em, but with Hot Water Music, it’s special, y’know? To be drenched in a new Hot Water Music album is one of alt-punk’s clockwork pleasures that just hits way more than the others; always has, likely always will.

So, yeah, Vows knocks it out the park; that goes without saying. But it might be worth digging into the weeds a bit more with this one, because there’s a very real case to be made that it’s one of Hot Water Music’s best ever albums. It’s a meaty claim to make, and one that, given the nature of this band, is how to qualify outside of ‘the feel’, but that can be enough. ‘Feel’ is where Hot Water Music are running circles around their peers, as far as the sheer weight of things goes. As the archetype for the wind-bitten gruff-punk everyman, Chuck Ragan’s tear continues absolutely noticeably. He sings how you’d imagine a face carved into a mountainside would sing—rocks and gravel audibly rolling around his throat as the distant trees bend and nature reacts to him as an elemental force.

It’s also worth mentioning the presence of Brian McTernan on this album, who liner-notes enthusiasts might recall as the producer of Hot Water Music’s early-2000s golden age, including the all-time, no-counterarguments-accepted classic Caution. It’s appropriate, then, that Vows not only feels rejuvenated in its punk energy and rippling burl underneath it, but also the band’s post-hardcore side that often doesn’t get much credit. That’s likely due to how greatly it’s overshadowed, but in switching the lead for Side Of The Road and Touch The Sun, something gets unlocked that’s just an unthinkably tight angle to take. The vocals especially have that, in the register of Claudio Sanchez or Daryl Palumbo to tie up what might be a couple of the most legitimate, worthwhile nostalgia packages to that era put to wax in ages.

So perhaps the whole ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ thing isn’t quite correct, but it’s a testament to how flawless the craftsmanship is that they barely feel like deviations. The one that does, on the other hand, is Remnants, though that might also be the best song in its own right, squarely down to combination of bass growls and textured hits and clacks of percussion that sound phenomenal. Past the ruggedness, you can tell that Hot Water Music still having fun doing this. Like, come on—a big portion of the album just feels like an excuse to get a load of pals onboard to join in. It’s not even the usual cache of alt-punks hearty, homely beard-boys, either, though if there is a legitimate missed opportunity on Vows, it’s how it buckles to the trend of interesting contributors given very little to do. Dallas Green might be in full-on City And Colour mode for After The Impossible’s slow, deep burn, but Thrice’s Dustin Kensrue and The Interrupter’s Aimee Interrupter are corralled in as auxiliary backing on Fences and Much Love respectively. Apparently Turnstile’s Brendan Yates is on here too, but you wouldn’t know without some kind of accreditation given as to where.

Saying that, this isn’t a Marvel film—you don’t come for the cameos. Hot Water Music themselves are rightfully the main attraction, on the form of their lives from front to back. There’s a spot-on amount of grind and attrition on Searching For Light and Fences, or Wildfire with Ragan’s spits of “I want my money back!” as the key punctuators. Vows sees them become tougher with age, still blessed with a full-throated earnestness and weight of emotion, but also still a punk band. You feel that with the opening track Menace, a lead-in rager that projects it hook for miles upon miles, with genuine exuberance radiating out. It’s just…the best, honestly. Hot Water Music may roll like a well-oiled machine, but not to where they’re unremarkable. You need those jutting edges and patches of imperfection to impress the most, a fact which Hot Water Music clearly know all too well.

So well, in fact, that Vows genuinely feels like another step up thanks to their efforts. Without a single dud track and a sound so self-evidently brilliant in everything it strives for, you can’t really ask for more in a Hot Water Music album, let alone one that’s not had its back broken by three decades of prior history. And when even the wear-and-tear contributes positively to an already colossal achievement, that’s when you know a band is on a good path. Not that that’s of any doubt; Hot Water Music have always been great, occasionally among the very best of their entire genre. It’s just good to see all that can still hold up, and squarely phenomenal music can triumph over basically everything else.

For fans of: The Lawrence Arms, Red City Radio, Spanish Love Songs

‘Vows’ by Hot Water Music is released on 10th May on End Hits Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall