Worthwhile
Carry On Kid
Sounds Like: Melodic Hardcore with youthful vigor
Rating: 9.5/10
It’s always sort of alarming when a band comes out and says they’re “going in a new direction on this next album.” But bands inevitably change over time, for a variety of reasons. Members change, they chase money and popularity, or they just mature as people. I don’t know why Worthwhile decided to shift from heavy pop punk to melodic hardcore but I couldn’t be more excited about it. Carry On Kid is an 11-song gem that is leaps and bounds ahead of anything they’ve put out in the past.
The first twenty seconds of this album are pretty indicative of what you’re in for. “Evergreen” busts through the door with an aggressive intro that foreshadows not only the imaginative instrumentation of the album, but also its heaviness. They keep their foot on the pedal as they go into “Homebuilder” and the first single “Melody, Save Me.” Both songs are heavy but “Melody” has the noteworthy breakdown towards the end. The rollercoaster tempo on “Homebuilder” is where the drummer Luke Teyler really shines, showing off his whole arsenal in just two minutes.
Compared to the raw and unhindered intensity of the album’s music, the lyrics on Carry On Kid are very sincere; at times somber, at times motivational. Though a recurring theme, the band’s Christianity seems less prevalent here compared to previous work. With their faith still intact, it sounds like a little more attention was put towards musicality and the overall feel of the album, to great result. One of the highlights is “Full Hands, Empty Hearts,” which is about the world’s greed and materialism adding up to pseudo-happiness and skewed values. Worthwhile follows the energy of “Full Hands” with the slower “Live for What Lasts” where vocalist James Teyler screams “As the sun sets, the silhouettes simplify the scene/I call it inconsistency/Oh God, give us a sunrise/Let midnight turn to morning/And let me see clearly why you would let this happen to a family.”
Not to be outdone by any of the previous jams, “At Sea Point” is one of the best songs on the album because of the bridge which turns into a small, but tough-as-nails breakdown. It’s a great example of how Carry on Kid has both technicality and emotion oozing through every note. “Messy Masterpiece,” the album’s finale, puts a shining bow on the record. With multiple tempo shifts, each one better than the last, the song plays the album out with just as much passion and life as it opened with.
While I did find the vocals on this record to be a little raw and unfinished, it’s clear that Worthwhile is the real deal. It took some guts to ditch their poppier-sound, but it paid off. Above all, Carry On Kid has hard work written all over it and you should do whatever it takes to get your hands on it.
-Felipe Garcia
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