REVIEW: Stick To Your Guns - Keep Planting Flowers

The Orange County, CA hardcore royalty Stick To Your Guns - made up of Jesse Barnett (vocals), Andrew Rose (bass), Chris Rawson (guitar), Josh James (guitar), and Adam Galindo (drums) - have channelled unbridled catharsis on their eighth full-length record, and their SharpTone Records debut, 'Keep Planting Flowers'. Emerging in 2003, the band have raised the bar with each successive release. Having amassed over 100 million streams, they’ve built an incredible back catalogue of albums, and this one is no exception. It’s brilliant, and expertly showcases the carnage and catharsis Stick To Your Guns are known for.

The LP is packed with aggression from the get go, starting off strong with 'We All Die Anyway'. It’s short and simple with not an ounce of energy being lost or wasted. Next up is 'Spineless', which came about from a writing session between Chris and Isaac from Knocked Loose during the COVID-1 pandemic. Out of that writing session came the insane opening riff, which sets the tone for the rest of the track. A key moment across the whole LP comes in the form of the anthemic lyrics “It’s all in your fucking head”, which will undoubtedly be a focal point of future STYG live sets for the crowd to scream along to.

'Permanent Dark' is said to be about the day Jesse found the light, the day he realised that everything he has accomplished would not have been possible without the love, support and guidance from others. The whole message is about how we as individuals are taught to believe we are the main characters, and our own individual lives are the most important thing, but once you realise that you have a greater connection to everything around you, you find both purpose and a reason to fight. The track has a brilliant combination of Jesse’s screams and some really high energy riffs. You can also hear the rain in this track, which is a recurring theme on this album with other natural sounds to show growth featured throughout.

Bang in the middle we find the song 'Invisible Rain', which is a very classic STYG song that keeps things firmly within what they do best. The album then kicks it up to an even higher gear with 'Severed Forever'. With a galloping drum beat beneath Jesse’s guttural vocals and some seriously gnarly guitar work that's paired perfectly with the chantable chorus, it's a hell of a ride. Arriving immediately afterwards is 'More Than A Witness' which is without a doubt one of the most poignant lyrically. Providing a hard hitting message, with lyrics like “How can we look away”, this is a song for those of us who are tired of seeing the awful shit going on in the world and want to do something about it. 

The title track is another favourite. It has a more stripped down vibe compared to the rest of the tracks, yet still has such an incredible message. It’s about making connections, keeping going, creating, thinking and growing, no matter how hard gets. It tells us to keep checking on our loved ones, to try not to let the hurt that we carry bring us down, and to turn that into something wonderful. Who knew hardcore could be so poetic? If there’s one thing this album does, it really knows how to hit home with incredible lyrical messages. Next up is 'Eat Me Up', which was originally intended to be on 'Disobedient', but the band just couldn’t get the track to work on that release. It was clearly worth the wait, as it's made for an awesome song on this LP. 

Penultimate track 'Who Needs Who' is an insanely high energy track. Featuring Scott Vogel of Terror, it never relents. It’s an amazing back and forth between Jesse and Scott, “Never forget who needs who, you need us, we don’t need you”. The collaboration is incredible, and both vocalists absolutely smashed their performances on this one. Lastly comes 'H84U', which has a very nostalgic early 2000s vibe to it. It’s the perfect closer for this album, and features Connie from SeeYouSpaceCowboy who really brought her own ferocity to the track and made it that bit more intense, in a fitting finale to such a strong album.

The album truly is hardcore at its finest. It showcases Stick To Your Guns' energy, as well as their ability to hit home with some hard hitting messages, and sometimes that’s just what you need. The album's central message is never going to stop being poignant, that of keeping on going no matter what - something beautiful can always come, even from pain and suffering.

'Keep Planting Flowers' will be released on January 10th via SharpTone Records.

Words: Kayleigh Hadley

Photo: Sarai Kelley