A little over a year ago we called Adult Themes — the fan-fucking-tastic debut full-length from post-hardcore powerhouse Strangelight — “a real contender for punk hardcore album of the year,” drawing a line from it to Hot Snakes, Propaghandi, the Twisted Sister video for “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” and John Gardner’s Grendel. (Yes, really.)
All of which is to say, perhaps we built up expectations and put slightly more than an itty bitty amount of pressure on the Oakland, California quartet — which, FYI, features former members of Transistor Transistor, True Cross, and Kowloon Walled City — for the follow-up.
The good news? Strangelight just ignored all that noise and continues to slay on The World Needs Laughter, yet another exceedingly heartfelt, enlivening release which sounds something like Leatherface sitting shotgun on a drive with Jehu and cements the band’s position at the vanguard of a post-post-hardcore scene desperately in need of higher-octane aggressive joyrides.
Check it out in full below!
