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In terms of mainstream acceptance and commercial reach, Turnstile might already be the biggest band in the history of hardcore. Their third studio album, 2021’s Glow On, was a proper smash hit, seeing the band embraced by everyone from the US talk show circuit to Glastonbury Festival. Due to Turnstile’s gloriously upbeat, melodically sun-kissed sound, some punk purist bores would deny that they are part of hardcore at all. Of course, that’s easily disprovable bullshit. Not only have Turnstile graduated from the highly respected Baltimore underground scene that gave the world the likes of Trapped Under Ice and Angel Dust, they share obvious musical DNA with the legendary likes of Bad Brains, CIV and Shelter – all of whom similarly embraced fun, lent heavily on a positive message of unity and created some wonderfully pop hook-filled music in the process.
Arguably, though, none of those bands have pushed the envelope as far as Turnstile – not only in terms of their sonic influences, which include alternative hip hop, yacht rock, funk metal and shoegaze, but in the sheer scale and number of people they’ve reached. Get Never Enough right, and Turnstile could be sitting on a landmark record, the likes of which this genre has never seen: hardcore’s answer to Nirvana’s Nevermind. If that doesn’t happen with this fourth full-length, then forget it: it never will. Never Enough is not just a brilliant album, it’s that rarest of things: an album that feels like it’s going to move the needle and reshape both the perceptions and the ceiling of a genre.
The sparkling synth that vocalist Brendan Yates croons over at the start of the opening title track is a beautiful way to open proceedings, and when a crunching half-time guitar, a propulsive rolling drum rhythm and a solo that sounds like Zakk Wylde playing The Stone Roses comes in, everything is elevated. It fizzles away before tagging in the mosh-stomp of Sole, a spectacular way to start the record.
From that point on, the quality never dips, Turnstile managing to somehow wrestle glorious pop nous nuggets from a punk rock framework. I Care combines hardcore two-stepping with shades of The 1975; Dull sounds like Sick Of It All meets Blur; Seein’ Stars mashes up Hall & Oates’ AOR pop with Jawbreaker’s gruff energy; and Dreaming is Gorilla Biscuits-go-mariachi. On paper it sounds like a gimmick and a potential disaster, but these songs are incredible. The highlight is the six-minute-plus Look Out For Me, which sounds as much like The Police and Tame Impala as it does Militarie Gun. It’s everything that makes Turnstile such a unique and special band.
It’s so unique that it’s hard to really know who Turnstile’s current peers are, relevant, forward-thinking contemporaries being few and far between. Irish indie rock crew Fontaines D.C., who utterly revolutionised post-punk with last year’s Romance album, are contenders, but in hard rock circles you’d probably have to go back to Bring Me The Horizon’s Sempiternal to find something that instantly felt like such a clear, era-defining blockbuster. Never Enough puts Turnstile where all the best bands end up: on an island of their own creation. And it’s going to be huge.
Never Enough is out this Friday, June 6
