Album Review: Those Without - 'Bittersweet'
Here comes a brand new album that is set to leave a bittersweet taste in your mouth. Welcome to Those Without.
These rising stars in the pop-punk scene, hailing from Sweden, first made a splash with their debut EP Neon Minds in 2020 and have been ones to watch for the past year. Now it's time for them to prove themselves with their debut full-length Bittersweet; a fitting title for an album full of songs about the highs and lows of life and love.
The band have noted Neck Deep, Trash Boat and Boston Manor as their main influences in their sound and it shows. 'Voodoo Doll' is a standout for that 2010s alternative feel they have tried, tested and perfected without being exact copies of bands coming before. The last thing a musician or a band needs is to be told they're a carbon copy of this person or this band or these guys, and by making their pop-punk their own pop-punk indeed, they've prevented this and proven their originality from the beginning. Exciting!
One of the standout singles from the record is 'Weightless'. It flows as it starts, then kicks off into that mosh-worthy youthful style that they've graced the fans with over the last year. If people come out of this ten-track record with this being their favourite, there is no arguing that fact. It has catchy riffs, a great beat, and stellar vocals from frontman Oskar Westlin with what is possibly his best performance on Bittersweet altogether.
The record ends with the latest single 'Webspinner', and it closes the album as chaotically and brilliantly as it opened. Those Without have found themselves just in time for their debut, and the overall tone is honest, authentic, loud and proud and unapologetically bittersweet. There is always something so satisfying about an act living up to their record's namesake.
There is something thrilling about Those Without right now, and so early on in their music career together, that means the world is in for a treat over the next decade and maybe the next lifetime. Pop-punk's revival for the 2020s has opened the door for a lot of acts around the world to pay homage to their own hometown-hating heroes and if Bittersweet shoots them into stardom like it very fairly should, Those Without will be some of the leaders of this renaissance.
Stick out your tongue and savour some bittersweet hits!
Words by Jo Cosgrove