Bedford boys Don Broco welcome you to their nightmare on dark and twisty sixth album, Nightmare Tripping.
Don Broco’s evolution has been fascinating to witness. But while some focus on their transformation from skinny-jeaned rock ladz to sonic eccentrics that sound unlike anyone else, what’s equally interesting is their change of lyrical focus, even from their last record to this one.
On their previous album, 2021’s excellent Amazing Things, they looked out at the world, commenting on such disparate topics as how superficial fixations blind us to real issues (Swimwear Season) and the anger associated with having someone’s bigotry thrust upon you (Uber), all serious topics tackled in far from the obvious ways.
On Nightmare Tripping, they’re similarly unpredictable in their approach, though this time turn their gaze inwards, with most of these 11 songs feeling like variations on a theme that none of us are as tough, or as beyond reproach, as we’d like to think we are. And that’s okay.
Darker examinations naturally result in darker music. And while Broco are no less loco – as Pacify Me confirms, gamely putting the bark in absolutely barking – their sound has been alloyed with more abrasive and suffocating textures.
Opener Cellophane was the perfect choice as first single, perfectly teeing up what’s to come, musically and thematically. With its references to The Matrix (thankfully the Keanu Reeves movie rather than the odious manosphere connotation), it’s a moment of awakening to the fact life can go from a picnic to a shit-sandwich buffet in the blink of an eye.
The first four tracks – completed by Disappear, Somersaults and the Nickelback-collaborating title-track – absolutely bombard the senses. Sometimes, it appears, it’s to scratch the itch of paying homage to formative influences like Korn and Limp Bizkit. Alternatively, as on Somersaults, it’s to provide context, namely recapturing the exuberance of youth and heady days when life was only frantic in a fun way. Nevertheless, you can’t help needing a bit of a breather when you’re drowning in ideas. It arrives via Ghost In The Night, its expansive melodies taking the foot off the gas and your windpipe for its four-plus minute duration.
That respite is short-lived, though, which is good news if you never wanted it to begin with, but less so if you like your Broco on the breezier side.
True Believers, featuring Architects’ Sam Carter, is a symphonic metalcore behemoth, undoubtedly inspired by Don Broco’s show at the Royal Albert Hall backed by an orchestra in 2022, and seemingly custom-made with spectacular live performances in mind. Quite how the hell they will recreate Euphoria Live Forever and Pacify Me onstage is anyone’s guess. Listening to both, the words ‘nu-metal nightclub’ spring to mind.
So, too, does a sense that more doesn’t always equal more. In piling on the downtuned riffs, vocals both crooning and cacophonous, an ’80s throwback vibe and the kitchen sink, they’ve successfully accumulated all the stages of Broco in one go. You can’t help feeling they’re getting in their own way at times, though, and that those two songs in particular might have been more impactful with a little more refinement.
Critiquing this band for being unrestrained is like berating water for being wet, though. Nightmare Tripping is something of a double pivot from its authors, busier and more brooding than what’s come before. This is the way they want to tell their story, though, right here and right now, and you’d have to be tripping to begrudge them that – especially when the results frequently dazzle.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Enter Shikari, Bring Me The Horizon, YONAKA
Nightmare Tripping is released on March 27 via Fearless. Get your exclusive Kerrang! x Don Broco album bundle now on vinyl or CD.
