Ben Quad has been on my radar since the release of their 2022 EP, I’m Scared That’s All There Is. The EP aligns well with the current 5th wave emo bands, comparable to Hot Mulligan, Sweet Pill, and Saturdays at Your Place. In 2023, the band released two songs that nicely fit that sound as well.

When I saw the band had signed to Pure Noise Records, I was very excited about the direction that could take them. My immediate expectation was that they’d continue to progress in their emo/pop-punk sound and chug along as they have. Upon hitting play on their new single, “You’ll Get Nothing and Like It,” I was immediately surprised by the new direction. The guitars are just as intense and fast as ever, but the vocals are almost entirely screamed. There’s an immediacy to the track that I haven’t felt when listening to new music in a long time.

With repeat listens, I’ve grown to appreciate the song more and more, the way the lead guitar lines connect across the chord changes, or how the song settles down for an instrumental bridge before erupting into a devastating breakdown finale. Clocking in at just under two minutes, the song wastes no time repeating sections; instead, you get four well thought out sections of a song that flawlessly connect and flow forward.

I’m not sure if the next Ben Quad LP will continue in this direction, but I do know that whatever my expectations were for the next record, they have now changed. This song shows how great the band’s musicianship is and how they plan to push their sound forward in the future. I am officially aboard the hype train, and if you listen to this song, I bet you will be as well.

Written by Bryan Williams