MAGNOLIA PARK - BAKU’S REVENGE
Epitaph’s more recent pop-punk sensation Magnolia Park have released their heavily anticipated full-length debut album.
In 2019, from Orlando, Florida the six-piece band - vocalist Joshua Roberts, guitarists Tristan Torres and Freddie Criales, bassist Jared Kay, drummer Joe Horsham and keyboardist Vincent Ernst - Magnolia Park was born.
The band has dropped EPs, mixtapes, multiple singles, and now their debut full-length album Baku’s Revenge.
The band has been known for their iconic upbeat and happy song, but they have also released more serious tracks that tackle serious issues. In Baku’s Revenge, they manage to evenly mix serious with lighthearted tracks. With 11 tracks and four bonus tracks, the album follows the fictional story of Magnolia Park’s main character Baku. Fans may recognize Baku from their previous cameo in past Magnolia Park music videos such as ‘Sick Of It All’. Baku’s Revenge is guaranteed to keep you entertained,energized, and wanting more.
The album opens with ‘?’ which is an introduction to the album,but also a call out to all of the haters of Magnolia Park. You can hear the lead singer telling haters that they “are not a TikTok band” and that they “do not use autotune”. After his message to everyone he re-introduces the main character, Baku. Next you have the track ‘Feel Something’ featuring Mayday Parade's front man Derek Sanders, tackling the issues of feeling numb in life, this track portrays how when things get back you need to ask for help in order to “feel something again”. Although this song is covered by what seems to be a very upbeat collection of riffs, there is a deeper meaning to the song.
In comparison ‘Misfits’ featuring Taylor Acorn talks about another serious issue of relationships that do not end peacefully. He explains how the metaphorical woman is trying to “take a shot” at him, but she missed him. This track is full of catchy lyrics that are bound to be memorized, and a breakdown that sneaks up on you in order to attack.
The next track seems to be one of the more personal songs, ‘Radio Reject’. It seems that through this song the band is conveying how they are ‘radio rejects’ because no one believed that they would make it in the scene or even on the radio. They explain how they have proved everyone wrong and are now successful.
The interlude ‘!!’ has a radio voice that ironically explains how drugs are “menacing our society”, yet the song afterwards is named ‘Drugs’. You can hear in the song the different sides of drugs, whether they are prescription or recreation that they can still ruin your life and kill you. Although the melody is catchy and upbeat there is a deeper and more serious message about how drugs are ruining the upcoming youth’s lives.
Similarly ‘Paralyzed’ has the same concept as ‘Drugs’, but it explains how you are addicted to your trauma, and how that is a different form of harmful addiction. Through both songs, ‘Drugs’ and ‘Paralyzed’ you can see the vicious cycle of prescription/recreational drugs turn into trauma, and in order to ease the trauma you revert back to drugs and the vicious cycle continues.
‘Addison Rae’ is the pop-punk party song that you could only imagine. Upbeat happy lyrics followed to intense lighthearted riffs makes for an overall exciting song that you can get up and jump around to. Right afterwards you are brought back into a mental state of recovering from a breakup in ‘Ghost 2 U’ featuring FRED and Joshua Roberts. Explaining how they are a ghost in the relationship because they gave their all in the relationship, but it seemed like they were not able to be seen.
No matter what they did to “get back to you” nothing ever worked. Afterwards you are put into another interlude by the lead singer. He explains how Magnolia Park is a serious band and gave “banger after banger” and he told Baku to play the last track of the album, ‘I should’ve listened to my friends’. Throughout this song it explains how he has been hurt multiple times in the relationship even though his friends told him not to keep dealing with it. He explains the remorse that he has because he should’ve listened to his friends, and it would have saved him pain and heartbreak.
The end of the album is composed of four bonus tracks that all scream party and rage that is stemmed from anger. The tracks- ‘Facedown’, ‘Complicated’, ‘Don’t Be Racist’, and ‘Dizzy’- all tackle a serious issue but twist it into an anthem that can be screamed and enjoyed because you have overcome that problem.
Overall Magnolia Park wanted to be taken seriously and not just as a TikTok band, and this album proved it. They exhibit the true talent that each member of the band possesses through the entire album. Each song reveals a new talent that we didn’t know of, from lead singer Joshua Roberts all the way to the drummer Joe Horsham. Magnolia Park shows that they have broken into the scene, made a name for themselves, and are not leaving anytime soon!
Cimone Milner
★★★★☆