EP REVIEW: There’s Nothing Worse Than Too Late – Real Friends

The 2020s have become a decade of pop-punk resurrection and many bands have found their place atop the musical pedestal again. One of the most well-loved of these collectives is Illinois’ own REAL FRIENDS, who are back with their new EP There’s Nothing Worse Than Too Late.

Tapping into their 13-year history, they bring it back to their dyed roots for this new release. The first single and opening track Tell Me You’re Sorry feels picked right out of 2013 and transported to the future. The lyrics could easily be dismissed as same-old teenage angst and over-dramatic heartbreak but the truth is with the comeback of such themes within pop-punk and emo sectors, this is no longer a theme that’s left for the youth to savour. Heartbreak and pain is universal among all demographics. Adults and adolescents alike know hurt; they can both feel it and relate to it within a REAL FRIENDS song.

Six Feet is another track chosen as a single release, and it’s one of the catchiest on the nine-track EP. It’s a blood-pumping, high-jumping anthem about loving and worshipping those in life while they are still alive and breathing. “I don’t wanna have to be six feet underground to feel loved”, vocalist Cody Muraro sings with all the hope and passion in his heart. Sharing the message to change the habit of only being appreciative of those once they move on to the afterlife, it takes what is obviously a morbid fact of life and turns it into an ear-worm of a tune that will keep people singing. Singing will get them to thinking, and thinking will switch to believing.

The magic of music, especially within rock and alternative, is the power to influence and inform. REAL FRIENDS have used this cleverly and carefully. Without force or coercion, but with truth and emotion. That is talent, and that is what keeps a band in good standing with great fans.

Closing off the EP with acoustic renditions of Tell Me You’re Sorry and Always Lose, the Tinley Park outfit have shrugged off the striped hoodie of emo shame to bring it back to where it came from. Guitars working in burning emotion, drums that carry everything with every beat, and Muraro’s vocals that do not compromise authenticity nor quality. The overall creations fill out There’s Nothing Worse Than Too Late in a similar way their earliest work did. In the end, there is no reason to fix what was never broke. There is no fixing REAL FRIENDS. Emo is back and it’s time to be proud.

Rating: 8/10

There’s Nothing Worse Than Too Late is out now via Pure Noise Records.

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