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My favorite thing about Dark Thoughts is that they're 3 of my favorite people on Earth. My second favorite thing about Dark Thoughts is that every album they make is exactly what I want to hear. I'll be totally honest, I don't like it when bands i like change. I don't really have any interest in it. If you make a record I like, I would prefer the next one to sound similar, and so on, etc. Dark Thoughts have mastered this formula while keeping each one as exciting as the previous. Every record is short, fast, catchy, angry, but has tender moments too. Highway To The End is no different. It might be the shortest one, could be the fastest one too. If you like any of their records you like them all and that's not an easy task for a band to pull off.
Our take: Finally, five whole years after their 3rd album, Must Be Nice, comes the long-awaited new Dark Thoughts album, Highway to the End. On the surface, not much has changed. The cover art is another nod to their heroes the Ramones, and (most of) the songs are high-energy Ramones-core anthems of the type fans have been fiending for. And if you’re one of those fiending fans, you’re definitely not going to be disappointed. But while Highway to the End gives the fans what they want, it’s hardly a redundant album. Just like the Ramones’ fourth album, Road to Ruin, it fleshes out the formula and tests the limits of what the band’s sound and songwriting style can accommodate. Actually, it’s less that Dark Thoughts’ formula is fleshed out, and more like it’s stripped to the bone. The opening track, “Slept Til Two,” is so hooky and memorable that it took me at least half a dozen listens to realize the song has no repeating parts and nothing resembling a chorus. It isn’t until the fourth song, “Bubble’s Gonna Burst,” that you get a chorus part that actually repeats. While the songwriting is spare from a musical standpoint, Dark Thoughts squeeze so much emotion into those tight spaces. For all their minimalism and all their Ramones worship, Dark Thoughts are songwriters in the classic sense, and they can convey so much with a few words and (even fewer) chords. As someone who has struggled with depression all my life, “Slept Til Two” (something I’ve done many times) and “Groundhog Day” feel like perfect encapsulations of what it’s like to live this way from day to day, each morning feeling like you’re starting at the bottom of a steep hill. There are also a wealth of clever turns of phrase to chew on, like the opening lines to “Bubble’s Gonna Burst:” “Wrote a letter the other day / All it said was go away / Self addressed return to sender.” Dark Thoughts hit you hardest with the feels on “Please Don’t Be Lonesome,” which might shock existing fans with its acoustic intro (but remember: “Needles and Pins” and “Questioningly” were on Road to Ruin!), but it works so well, laying aside the band’s usual sonic armor to shine a spotlight on the heart-rending vocal performance. I also love that the album doesn’t end there, returning (after a nod to Nasty Facts) for “Sweet Success,” which serves as a coda and a callback to the early morning setting of the opener “Slept Til Two.” “Sweet Success” captures the spark of hope (which we depressives must be careful to nurture) that allows us to “begin again,” to face another day and another set of challenges. The song’s refrain of “begin again” is also an invitation to play Highway to the End again, which you’ll need to do, because there are so many great parts that only happen once, and so much depth that’s only going to reveal itself after many listens.