ALBUM REVIEW: Highly Suspect – ‘As Above, So Below’

As Above, So Below is the newest gambit in Highly Suspect’s tour of reputation repair, a venture which has never really pulled out of the nosedive it began as. MCID was undoubtedly the beginning in 2019, where Johnny Stevens’ penchant for ego and generally narcissistic rockstar knobheadary took over for an ill-advised crossbreed of the alt / grunge / hard rock they’d spearheaded with unvetted, unoptimised hip-hop and pop. And yet, it’s too noteworthy in its baffling existence to be an outright flop; the only album in 2019 to feature both Young Thug and Gojira can’t be, on principle alone. No, the real failure was 2022’s The Midnight Demon Club, as an attempt to walk back even the faintest sniff of a controversial choice that locked into bland, conservative radio-rock. For a band like Highly Suspect—and, by proxy, a man like Johnny Stevens—hedging your bets to avoid alienating anyone is about as far as the mark can be missed.

So naturally, the next step is to try once more to regain some good will. It’s an uphill struggle with the second album on the trot that not a single soul cares about, but for Highly Suspect at this exact point, saving face is about the best thing they can do. They’re taking those windless sails and trying to spin the decisions that made them so as the correct ones. Whether that’s true or not remains up to interpretation, but As Above, So Below is markedly stronger than last time.

There’s a pretty huge asterisk attached to that, though—in no way, shape or form does this feel like the launch back to prospective superstardom. MCID shut and bolted that door for so many people, and expecting a simple course correction to reopen it would be a bit too naïve. Plus, there are just more bands who arrived in Highly Suspect’s wake that have done a better job at filling their abdicated niche, and in some case—like Dead Poet Society on Fission from just a few months ago—continue to surpass them. Thus, it’s both to their credit and detriment that Highly Suspect are still under the illusion that their throne is up for grabs. Stevens’ ego trips now have a weird presumptiveness backed into their usual adjunct detailling, such as The Blue-Eyed Devil’s portrayals of himself as “Indiana Jones” and “the blond Al Capone”. The taste for the absolute most flagrant rockstar posturing hasn’t gone away, but at least there’s some drive to go with it now.

It’s worth being aware that, at this point, there’s little of substance to be gleaned from Highly Suspect. It’s a combination as old as some incarnations of rock itself, where the women and drugs and motorcycles are the basis of the whole thing. If you’re scouting for depth, the closest is in some of their more backfiring aspects like on Plastic Boxes or Champagne At Our Funeral; otherwise, the stuff isn’t exactly flowing. It’s also a design space that Highly Suspect are keen to occupy, and when they can generally pull it off, you can’t really dock them for it. It fits with Stevens’ personality, if nothing else, spelled out on the coda of opener Summertime Voodoo where a motorcycle crash in the desert is as literal as visual interpretations of a ‘live fast, die young’ mantra get. By some miracle, it’s never as cringe as you’d expect from a guy in his late 30s who hasn’t outgrown his Mötley Crüe cosplay, which is, y’know, nice.

There’s also the matter of As Above, So Below just sounding more enthused about what it’s doing. You’d hope so for an album that’s about an hour long, and for the most part, the return to what was ear-catching about Highly Suspect in the first place is well-handled. In a blend of ‘80s hedonism, ‘90s alt-nation worship and 2000s radio-readiness, ground is covered well and with generally lithe, flexible sensibilities. The slower tracks are perhaps the most impressive, as Melatonia and The 8th Of October (To August 17th) balloon by minutes past the prescribed radio runtime, in service of a couple of killer slow-builds armed with rougher, layered production. It’s a shame Then, Mickey 2 ends up as a trundling waste of time in the same vein—a seven-and-a-half-minute closer with not one of them being worth it—but at least it isn’t a wasted effort overall. Highly Suspect evidently care enough to give off the impression of pushing themselves, and have the capacity to pull it off.

Besides, that’s arguably a greater result reaped than many would’ve expected. Even on the album’s most straightforward cuts, Highly Suspect have swerved away from totally puttering out rather well, and back to something with a harder thwack to it. Summertime Voodoo is actually a really good opener on that token, pulled from a dusty blues-rock swirl with plenty of room to flex some solid rock muscle. Bundle in Suicide Machine and The Reset and Run For Your Death (More Pills) in the same bracket—none feel bogged down or tapered too far in by the classic rock feel looming overhead, nor are they too far into unfamiliar grounds.

In other words, it’s exactly what The Midnight Demon Club should’ve been, and what the remaining Highly Suspect fans have been clamouring for since. They’re easily back on track now, maybe a little late to see the full benefits but the net positive is clear to see. And for the blows that Highly Suspect and their profile have taken, that can be counted as a win. Through the lens of solely musical output, As Above, So Below is probably as good as they’ve ever been, and the kind of emphatic swing back to form that a band who had totally whiffed it simply wouldn’t be able to pull off. The chances are that Highly Suspect should get used to being position players now rather than leaders, but if this is the output they’re delivering in that role, that’s perfectly fine. Quality can speak for itself, and can last much longer than spurious accolades ever could.

For fans of: Badflower, cleopatrick, Chevelle

‘As Above, So Below’ by Highly Suspect is released on 19th July on Roadrunner Records / 300 Entertainment.

Words by Luke Nuttall