I’ve been following Set Your Goals since my friend Matt turned me onto them some years ago. Of course, he was biased. He is their tour manager. Luckily for him, they are an awesome band and chill dudes. I’m a pretty big fan of their previous albums, and even interviewed Matt a few years ago. I’ve been looking forward to this album ever since Merrick started singing snippets of it.
Now that I have it in my hands, I am not disappointed. Of course, it isn’t at all what I expected. Which is not an issue, just surprising. I was expecting SYG to go super poppy for this one. And you know what, I was completely wrong. This album is HARDER than any other release they’ve dropped.
And you know what? This album reminds me of the Judgment Night Soundtrack. I know, I know, “lay off the reefer, Brian,” but hear me out. Judgment Night was this dope mid 90s movie where the soundtrack was all artist team ups. So you had Biohazard and Onyx on one song, Helmet and House Of Pain on another (ill, ill song) and Sonic Youth + Cypress Hill on another. It was just this ill little mashup of bands dropping insane songs where each song had a completely different vibe. That’s what this album has. One song has an ill double kick and metal up your ass, while another has a perfect pogo bounce. Throw in some guest spots by Hayley Williams (Paramore), Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory), Vinnie Caruna (The Movielife), Jon Gula (Turmoil, oh what??), and you’ve got a pretty sick sound.
You can catch these dudes touring constantly. If you are lucky, you hit up Gig Life and witnessed a good time. They even have tshirts for “grown ass men.” If you can’t find one in their tour merch, peep Ebay. You never know what you may find. Go ahead and spend those dollars on this release. You won’t regret it.