ALBUM REVIEW: Help Me, Help You – Stepson

Unpredictable. It’s a word almost invariably used in a positive context when it comes to music – and rightly so. It’s also a term that definitely applies to STEPSON’s Help Me, Help You. The debut full-length from the Brisbane-based five-piece was always going to be tough to call. We last heard from STEPSON with their furiously catchy 2017 single, Come With Me. Before that, 2016’s The Beautiful Lie EP saw them lean significantly into pop, with electronic beats and barely any screaming. All that meant there were definitely a few questions about what their return would look like. Would they follow in the footsteps of many others and push further into the poppier elements of The Beautiful Lie? Or, was Come With Me (which appears on this record) a sign of a return to their more raging earlier releases? Somehow, the answer to both those questions is ‘yes’.

From the get-go STEPSON seem keen to prove they haven’t completely abandoned the heavier elements of their sound. Opener Learning To Let Go provides a decisvely aggressive start to proceedings, evoking the likes of COUNTERPARTS or Sempiternal-era BRING ME THE HORIZON. It’s a good track, as is Run which follows, but it’s the songs after this where the band really seem to find their feet again. On Deeper Sleep, they fuse their brand of high-energy melodic hardcore with an almost danceable pop-punk edge. It’s a definite album highlight, with a big sing-along chorus and some melodic lead guitar parts. Who Are We? after it is even better. Here, the band turn up the pop-punk catchiness even further while maintaining a very light touch of their hardcore side.

So far, it could seem as though STEPSON had chalked up The Beautiful Lie’s more pop-heavy sound as a one-off. Fifth track The Entire History Of You is another solid melodic hardcore song, and one of the album’s most aggressive. This all changes however with the album’s sixth and seventh tracks, I Wish and Dilemma respectively. The former sits almost entirely outside the Distorted Sound wheelhouse, with electronic beats, synths, and poppy vocal samples. It definitely won’t be for everyone, especially not those drawn to the band’s harsher side, but it does seem reasonably well-executed. Crucially, it’s hard not to admire STEPSON‘s bravery in placing smack-bang in the middle of the record.

Dilemma continues along a poppier theme, led by a simple acoustic guitar and finger clicks for percussion. This one’s definitely more of a hybrid however, with a rockier chorus and even a few screams in its bridge. Again, it’s a brave move from the band, and one they pull off pretty well. Some will still be less keen on all this than others, but none of it should come as a surprise to those more familiar with STEPSON‘s varied back catalogue.

Those who are less enamoured with these more mainstream turns will surely breathe a sigh of relief at eighth track Come With Me. As heard in 2017, it picks up the energy with raging verses, a huge chorus, and a crushing middle breakdown. It kicks off a great ending run of tracks, which mostly sit in the realm of the band’s solid blend of hardcore, metalcore and pop-punk. Closer Say Something provides a final high point, its verses and choruses drawing firm comparisons to BLINK-182‘s more serious side. Eventually, it brings the album to a delicate close, with vocalist  Brock Alan Conry repeating the song’s titular lyric over quiet clean guitars.

Coming nearly four years since we last heard from STEPSON, Help Me, Help You is a mostly triumphant return. Even with its more radio-friendly leanings, it would be unfair to accuse the band of selling out or mellowing down. For starters, the album’s straight-up ragers alone are enough to prove they haven’t lost their more ferocious edge. What works best on this record however is where the band find something of a happy medium. When they do this, their brand of hook-laden melodic hardcore is among the best in today’s scene. When they don’t, this record is still worth your time as evidence of a band who aren’t afraid to do what they want.

Rating: 7/10

Help Me, Help You is set for release on March 26th via Sharptone Records.

Like STEPSON on Facebook.