Chance Encounters The eighth studio album from the Scranton, PA punk rockers The Menzingers is called Everything I Ever Saw and it alludes to the band taking a look back at just how far they’ve come both personally and professionally. On the opening song of “Chance Encounters” lead singer Greg Barnett offers, “So sick of being lonely, do you want to get to know me?” as a way of inviting the audience into his world, headspace, and overall outlook on life. Their previous record of Some Of It Was True was filled with folk punk songs about heartache, growing up, and finding your place in a world that doesn’t seem to make sense. Everything I Ever Saw finds The Menzingers at a comfortable stage of their music career and with the creative freedom to try just about whatever they’d like to do. It’s an enjoyable listening experience from front to back, and the singles released thus far do a solid job of encapsulating the direction the band took here. By finding solace at this point in their collective lives, Everything I Ever Saw reignites the flame burning inside the band as they reflect on their youth while still accelerating their growth as storytellers and accomplished songwriters.
From the raucous first few notes on “Chance Encounters”, Everything I Ever Saw gets off the ground in a hurry as Barnett battles his inner demons with lyrics like, “I felt sinister on the sidewalk, intrusive thoughts abound / I kind of felt like jumping into traffic downtown / It all blurs together, and it barely makes sense / We were sixteen once, we will never be again.” By taking a look back at his youth, Barnett and his bandmates present a clear path forward on this record. “Better Angels” finds Barnett reaching to the heights of his vocal range with anthemic pacing and a repetitious vocal cadence throughout the verses to match the heavenly tone of the track. As the song unfolds, the band offers a thought in the bridge of, “Heavy hearts in a place like this / Where some things just don’t make sense / But we still got fight in our fists / We’re better angels” that to me can be interpreted as the band taking the world all in stride and fighting for better days ahead.
”Romanticism” has a solid, driving beat behind its passionate lyrics, while Eric Keen’s bass lines pulsate well over Barnett’s vocal delivery. The steady hand behind the drum kit from Joe Godino helps with steadying the pacing of the track, and the song takes a brief pause in the midway point to allow both the audience and band to catch their breath while preparing for the dramatic conclusion of the song. It’s here that Barnett croons/pleads, “Come tear your heart out with me / All that is and all that never was / Don’t mean shit to us now”. “Other People’s Money” follows in the sequencing and finds Tom May taking the lead vocal reins for a bit to showcase the depth in The Menzingers sound and band chemistry. The track seems comfortable staying in the same pocket throughout the song, and it didn’t really do much for me in the sequencing found on this record.
”Gasoline & Matches” begins with some programmed sounds to lay the groundwork for the atmospheric elements presented in the song, while Barnett once again reflects on his youth with the opening lines of, “Tell the kid in you that it’s okay / You don’t have to have it all figured out, beyond a shadow of a doubt / Put the work down till Monday / The loudest people have nothing to say,” which is solid advice to follow and it helps with setting the tone at the midway point of the LP. “The Fool” follows a similar song structure with some horns placed in the front of the track, while Tom May confesses on the repeated chorus of, “I’m a dreamer / I’m a believer / Self deceiver, I ain’t no keeper.” Through this introspection, The Menzingers allow themselves to continue down a path of self-reflection that comes across as charming at this point in their career.
”Nobody’s Heroes” was one of the first songs I heard from this era of The Menzingers, and it’s a pretty solid single. Even with a bit of a clumsy bridge of, “Looking for your golf ball, lost in the woods / Sometimes goodbye is goodbye for good”, the track presents itself as the band not taking themselves not too seriously, and admits that they have the same faults as everyone else. “Breathe With Me” is one of the better songs found on the back half of the record, and it rocks with a different urgency found on the earlier material. The second verse connects the band to the beachfront/ocean environment set forth on the album cover with the lyrics of, “Don’t pull me under / Dark shapes below / Voice is fading / The darkness grows / Our tears, our years, our promise / Gone by the board / No stars to steer by / We’re nevermore.”
”When She Enters My Dreams” feels like the perfect blend between classic Bruce Springsteen-lore and the modern urgency of The Gaslight Anthem that is classic The Menzingers. The picturesque chorus of, “Been throwing rocks up at your window / For forever and a day / All I ever wanted was a chance at it all / Been throwing rocks up at your window / For forever and a day / All I ever wanted was a chance at it all / A chance at it all, a chance at it all / When she enters my dreams,” recalls the days of young love and wanting for that love interest to see you for who you are. “Parade Day” features a great opening guitar riff that helps set the tone and warmth throughout the song, while the album closer and title track seems to contradict the overall theme of reflection found on Everything I Ever Saw with the last lines of, “I don’t want to relive, I just want to remember / Everything I ever saw.” By admitting that they would rather just remember the best of times rather than revisiting the heartache that comes with past trauma, the band leave the listener with another solid offering in their discography that has yet to find any chinks in the armor. The Menzingers are one of the most consistent punk bands in our scene, and this record proves that they have plenty left to offer.