Toronto, Ontario alt-rock band, Cruel Hope, has just dropped their debut EP, I’m Not Sick. The three-song EP features the self-titled single, along with the singles “Wage Slave” and “Someone to Hate”.
The three-track ep serves as a debut calling card for the new music project, and it spends most of its 13 minute run time hammering home its themes like a thesis. At its core, Cruel Hope is a rebellious pop-punk act along the lines of Green Day or Rise Against.
The EP opens with the title track “I’m Not Sick”, an “it’s not me it’s you” track that points the fingers of one’s ills squarely at the state of the world. “I’m not sick, I’m just sick of it,” says our protagonist to the doctor. This mid-tempo rocker would feel at home on Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown.
“Someone To Hate” opens with a little more teeth and edge than the prior track, with dissident guitars and a thumping backbeat. Lyrically, this track takes a break from pointing out society’s ills long enough to discuss a disastrous breakup. The hook sums it up perfectly: “I don’t miss you, I just miss having someone to hate”. Structurally, the song briefly flirts with a halftime breakdown before pivoting last minute and heading to a bridge, in what may be a missed opportunity for some dynamic fluctuation.
The EP closes with the band’s first single “Wage Slave”, which crossed my desk a couple of months ago. Born out of the pandemic despair that we all felt, the song focuses on a “no war but the class war” mentality that became en vogue throughout most of 2021. The song is well written and well-performed, but no new ground is tread here. Instead, the song leans into the “eat the rich” and “kill the landlords” style slogans that have been bandied about the past few years.
Overall, this is a strong debut from a promising punk-leaning modern rock band. This ep would feel at home with most of the polished, hot topic style modern punk rock of the 2010s, and a must-listen for fans of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown era Green Day.
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