Hot Milk Corporation P.O.P Album Review
British Pop-punk, alternative band Hot Milk are back with their second album - Corporation P.O.P. A emotionally raw, politically charged rally cry to fix a broken society.
Hot Milk’s second full-length album, Corporation P.O.P., is an emotionally raw, politically charged, and bombastic record, spanning 14 tracks. The Manchester-born band blends pop-punk attitudes with post-hardcore intensity as they unleash their frustration and fury at the powers that be.
The record kicks off with the gut-punching ‘(How Do I) Make the EVIL Fall Asleep’. It’s a storming opener with tight riffs with thumping guitars akin to Led Zeppelin rather than the punky rock you’d expect. The vocal statement is shared between Han Me and Jim Shaw, bouncing back and forth as we kick things off, running before moving into a sprint. ‘Insubordinate Ingerland’ is one of my most repeat-played tracks this year. A punk metal shout-out that you can’t help but sing along to. A beautiful satire of what it’s like to be English today. A track perfectly paired with The ‘American Machine’. An outsider’s view on the dysfunctional system that is America.
Han Mee and Jim Shaw bounce beautifully between clean and harsh vocals throughout the album, giving every line the weight it deserves. Hot Milk never shies away from wearing their feelings on their sleeves, from mental health to their frustration with the political system. You know what you’re getting before you enter Corporation P.O.P. The thing you don’t know is how they’ll present those frustrations.
On their debut record, there was a clean pop-punk sound with balanced clean and harsh vocals. Here, Hot Milk brilliantly experiments with their sound. Keeping things feeling fresh as tracks like ‘Hell Is On Its Way’ and ‘Warehouse Salvation’ feature electronic vocals and dance elements, as they dip their toes in industrial metal. Hot Milk blends the new textures seamlessly into their foundation, demonstrating their confidence as artists.
Hot Milk charges at you from the get-go, and that pace doesn’t slow down, even on their slower and more reflective tracks like ‘Asphyxiate.’ A track filled with huge vocals as you feel like they’re singing into a void, hoping someone is listening to their message.
Closing track ‘Sympathy Symphony’ does turn things from a sprint to a walk as we reflect on the chaos of the previous tracks. I’m honestly not a huge fan of Hot Milk’s slower, stripped-back tracks. However, the gentle beauty of the lyrics hit like a sledgehammer as we start stripped back before ending in one final storm that only Hot Milk could do.
Corporation P.O.P. is a bold, uncompromising album that breaks the traditional mold when it comes to album length. There is too much Hot Milk wants and needs to say to fit into an 8-10 track album. The unwillingness to compromise to get their message across allows their fury to be fully felt. Hot Milk is an unstoppable force unwilling to compromise. A blast from start to finish.