Dark Thoughts

Reviews

Dark Thoughts Highway to the End LP

Six years after their last record, Philadelphia’s DARK THOUGHTS have reemerged as dialed-in as ever on this brand new slab. The tunes are tight and concise, never overstaying their welcome and always getting the point across within their brief duration. Applying the poppy and speedy formula of classic SCREECHING WEASEL and RAMONES to maximum effect, the songs hit hard with relatability, realism, and hope. They’re what I wished every band sounded like when I was sixteen. “Please Don’t Be Lonesome” is the perfect reassuring follow-up to the previous album’s heartbreaking “With You,” with which I positively tortured myself at the time of its release. Or is “Sweet Success” the real happy ending? Either way, I’m glad the story isn’t over.

Dark Thoughts Do You Dream / It’s Too Late 7″

Fuck yeah DARK THOUGHTS. Maybe this isn’t the best thing to admit, but when a band has a fucking stupid name like DIARRHEA PLANET (great band tho), I tend to avoid checking them out. But on the flip side, when they have a really cool name like DARK THOUGHTS, I wanna check them out right away. So these dudes have been making me tap my Converse and wiggle in my tight black jeans since shortly after their first LP. This new single has the best song they’ve possibly ever written as the A-side. “Do You Dream” is a minute and 18 seconds of pop-punk bliss. It’s oh so easy to write off a band when you see the word RAMONES-core associated with them and it totally feels fucking lazy to even put that in a description if I’m honest. Though I’ll be goddamned if these guys didn’t exclusively listen to the Fast Four and MEAN JEANS before writing their own songs. It’s a perfect mix and I recommend buying all their records like yesterday.

Dark Thoughts Must Be Nice LP

This third DARK THOUGHTS album follows the same musical line that everyone already knows: the RAMONES style. It’s amazing how the band can explore something as limited as this simple style. For those who follow DARK THOUGHTS, their trilogy of records complement each other a lot; although this album is very interesting, I still feel attached to the second one, though I’m flirting with the new one. Dee Dee would approve of this band.