Jeff Rosenstock
HELLMODE
POLYVINYL
ABOVE THE CURRENT
Like much of the best punk music, Jeff Rosenstock’s output has always been restless, bursting at the seams with impassioned energy. Even when writing about the ways the world puts its inhabitants through the proverbial meat grinder—emotionally and economically—Rosenstock’s contagious persistence has kept him buoyant over two decades, whether in the wiry explosions of his previous band Bomb the Music Industry! or the increasingly ambitious aims of albums released under his own name.
Like all punks, too, the passage of time has brought out a softer side in Rosenstock that can waver from tender to melancholy, from POST-’s dual ballads “TV Stars” and “9/10” to the slow-motion heartbreak of NO DREAM’s “Honeymoon Ashtray.” It’s only fitting that his penchant for pathos envelops an album called HELLMODE, the first studio record he’s made since the confluence of unresolved national and global crises that began in 2020. Slower tempos and acoustic-driven inward reflections come as frequently as musings on holding privilege during catastrophe and accountability in the wake of interpersonal harm. The effect of it all makes it feel like HELLMODE carries the weight of all the global erosion he’s been singing about for ages. All punks have to reckon with the burden of time, after all.
But if HELLMODE has one particular strong suit, it’s not letting this mood dominate the whole affair. Just as life isn’t all melancholy or anger, Rosenstock—as always—approaches the album by putting everything that surrounds him in an intersecting flurry. Standout track “DOUBT” works as a masterclass in Rosenstock’s fluidity at this stage in his career, managing to gracefully weave together a somber emo riff, lo-fi power pop, sing-along gang vocals, and a pit-ready breakdown in a matter of minutes. Elsewhere, the blistering hardcore ripper “HEAD” lands with a firm blow by punctuating the simmering jitters of opener “WILL U STILL U,” the former’s rattling anxieties arriving like an extension of the fears of alienation on the latter. And closer “3 SUMMERS” weds the scope of POST-’s own lengthy closer with a tangible ache of uncertainty, its emphatic self-interrogations lingering long after it fades out.
Rosenstock has always been a cut above most other lyricists who’ve tried to be explicitly political in recent years, sidestepping platitudes or empty sloganeering for a real human feeling behind each song—maybe because he’s so damn genuine about every word that leaves his mouth. Still, HELLMODE is a captivating new glimpse into how his songwriting may continue to mature.
As the first record Rosenstock has made since leaving his home state of New York for California, lyricism on drought and scant rainfall permeates these tracks, creating its own swift shorthand for being sucked dry from forces beyond your control. On the serene meditation of “HEALMODE,” Rosenstock sings of “perfect rainy days where all you need is me and all I need is you” in a softer register than usual, his acoustic guitar never rising above a murmur. On first listen, it’s easy to expect there to be some sort of crescendo at the end of the track. But it remains level all the way through, allowing him an unimpeded moment to take a much-needed breather.
This shift is fascinating to witness above all else, and it’s compelling to see Rosenstock unafraid to keep evolving his sound this far into his work. The translation is admittedly one that demands more patience, with an opening stretch rife with staggering immediacy giving way to a relatively languid back half that, at times, can blend a bit together. But Rosenstock has always steadied himself in the eye of the storm before long, weathering the hellish deluge—no matter what it may throw at him.
