AN ELOQUENT REVISITATION OF 2019’s ‘HELLO EXILE,’ THE NEW ALBUM FROM THE MENZINGERS PERFECTLY SOLIDIFIES THE STRENGTH OF THEIR SONGWRITING

The Menzingers will release their stripped down, 12-track album From Exile on September 25, 2020 via Epitaph Records. An eloquent revisitation of 2019’s Hello Exile, From Exile perfectly solidifies the strength of The Menzingers’ songwriting.

As much as I enjoyed Hello Exile and its quick, punchy and punk-fueled music, the bare versions of “Anna,” “Last to Know” and “Farewell Youth” we experience throughout From Exile are particularly captivating. The violin accompaniment from Kayleigh Goldsworthy, replacing the dense electric chords in “Last to Know,” adds a haunting refinement. The violin seeps into your skin as you listen to the cryptic lyrics, “Cemetery walls / Klonopin and alcohol / Tonight I won’t start a fight / You barely made a sound,” providing an ambiance not originally delivered in Hello Exile.

“Farewell Youth,” a heartbreaking track in itself, is now accented with a patiently-paced tambourine, enunciating the lamentation in the vocals, the instrumentals shifting to resounding guitar chords with the lyrics, “I saw my childhood flash before me in the death of your closed eyes / At your Irish wake we celebrate by trying not to cry.”

Recorded separately, The Menzingers worked remotely, recording from their home studios while in quarantine, with the help of Will Yip (sound engineer to mix and master From Exile). From the inclusion of harmonica, violin, key changes and the expansion of verses on some tracks, The Menzingers took Hello Exile and developed the effort into a more emotive record with innovative rearrangements that enhance the listening experience with depth and new layers of expression. From Exile will be released digitally on September 25 and a vinyl release date is set for November 13 from Epitaph Records.