Broadside dives deeper into love, loss and the emotional turmoil of treading water on new album

Broadside’s newest album, Into the Raging Sea, will grace the airwaves on July 24, 2020 via SharpTone Records. Aptly named, Into the Raging Sea dives deeper into love, loss and the emotional turmoil of treading water, ultimately to reach the shore and battle through the storms.

Broadside

No novice to the Broadside catalog, I have followed the band for years. You will even catch a Paradise track “I love you, I love you, It’s Disgusting” featured in my wedding ceremony this August. So naturally, I was stoked to not only preview another Broadside album but to hear the next chapter in their discography. The four-piece pop punk band has yet again created an honest and unflinching biographical album that has its moments of incredibly fun tracks like “Heavenly” and “Dancing on the Ceiling (with you)” to the sobering and introspective tracks “Burning at Both Ends” and “Seasons.”

Into the Raging Sea starts off strong with the title track, a melodic and turbulent tale, showcasing a range of emotions from desperation to fury, nicely setting the scene for the rest of the album. “Foolish Believer” ups the tempo while still focusing on rather shadowy subject matter with lyrics, “I know my days are numbered / I just wanna be remembered / I can’t shake this feeling / All the world is just a stage / Everybody’s acting / Hoping that the crowds will numb the pain / So here goes another line / From a fading lie / I need your love / Cuz I‘ve sold all mine / Don’t walk away.” The song’s energetic pace and exciting instrumentals are there to triumphantly carry the listener into the light.

No shortage of love songs, Into the Raging Sea features back-to-back bangers with “Nights Alone” and “Heavenly.” The former has a rousing melody paired with lyrics, “Can I take you for a ride on a saturday night/Wanna lose my mind on your body tonight/We were underneath the stars with a bottle of wine/She said I never wanna let you go,” possessing all the makings of every scene couples summer song.

An early single release, “Heavenly” dropped June 26, along with a music video. I added the track to our wedding reception playlist the same day it was released. The perfect mix of emotive lyrics and vibrant, unstoppable music, “Heavenly” was made to be played on huge stages to crowd surfers and converse-clad fans singing the lyrics back at the band.

Standout track “The Setting Sun” accelerates the album to the final lap with punchy beats driving back the melancholy ennui those of us with mental struggles face with lyrics, “I hear a voice in my head / tells me to sink/but I’m still learning to swim.” An instrumental shining achievement, “The Setting Sun” eloquently illuminates the conquest of our demons.

The conclusion of Into the Raging Sea hits forcefully for such a subtly composed ballad. “Burning at Both Ends” strikes with poignant prose, the lyrics “you were always there but you weren’t there for me,” dredged up a minefield of memories long buried. For me, the pain of an alcoholic father who was around, but never really there for me, flooded me when I heard the track. After losing my father to alcohol abuse when he was 50 and I was 18, I lost him quickly and slowly as he spent two weeks in ICU on a ventilator.

The concluding lyrics of “Burning at Both Ends” spoke volumes to my experiences: “Finally found the strength to walk again / to close that door and understand / I burn bridges, a period / the end to all our sentences / so goodbye my friend / goodbye my dearest friend / and wherever this light may take us in the end/and as hard as it is to admit / I forgive you and wish you the best.” These words embody the memories and journey I faced with my biological father, finally forgiving him for everything our relationship lacked and knowing I can’t change our past, after about a decade of reflection. These lyrics personify the memories and journey of forgiveness and growth, which can certainly be painful yet, cathartic. It’s a wonderful song that I think tells an important story. So many fans have been through trauma and songs like this bring to mind a friend saying, “I’ve been there too, you will get through this.”

From summer love songs to emotionally revealing tracks, Into the Raging Sea is a varied and masterful album from Broadside. Showcasing their growth and maturity while still delivering a refreshingly engaging record, Into the Raging Sea is sure to be the album of the summer, if not the year.