Once again smiling in the face of misery and painful subjects, cheery Canadian pop-punk band PUP shout and yell their way through another album. Morbid Stuff follows the release of their noisy sophomore release The Dream Is Over and adheres to a similar style of contentious chaos. PUP hold a certain sound that is almost sarcastic at times, and any song of theirs is easily recognisable for its brash guitars and positive projection of bad things.

Lead single ‘Kids’, for example, sings of finding that one person who makes your life slightly less bleak. “I don’t care about nothing but you” yells frontman Stefan Babcock over this cynical track, and it’s a perfect encapsulation of PUP’s ethos. ‘Free At Last’ is a song which the band challenged fans to cover on social media, before hearing the original version. It’s a fresh and honest display of dealing with depression, highlighting how the absence of motivation and a path in life has resulted in the poor treatment of a lover. “Just cause you’re sad again, it doesn’t make you special at all”, Babcock pessimistically taunts in an almost mocking tone.

No pop-punk album would be complete without a break-up song, ‘See You At Your Funeral’ is that song with an angry poise and a desire for an apocalypse to really stick it to an ex. “I hope somehow I never see you again, and if I do it’s at your funeral or better yet, I hope the world explodes, I hope that we all die” sings Babcock with a distinctive bitterness in his voice. ‘Full Blown Meltdown’ sounds exactly like the title suggests – fast-paced and furious, ripe with cynicism and a fuck-everything attitude. “I’m a loser and always will be, so why change now?” Crucially, it stands out as something different from anything that PUP have ever done.

Morbid Stuff showcases the band’s angriest sound to date, even more so than their 2014 debut release PUP. It’s more developed, but still has managed to keep the same recognisable sound that spreads across all of their releases, and teaches listeners to relish in their dysfunctions, and laugh at the darkness. (7/10) (Rebecca Corbett)

Listen to Morbid Stuff by PUP here via Spotify, and tell us what you think below!