Meet Me @ The Altar - Past // Present // Future

Meet Me @ The Altar are as nostalgic as anyone. With the cost of living rising ever higher and a climate crisis rearing its ugly head, who could be blamed for evoking a rose-tinted view of a simpler time? On this long-awaited debut, the trio rewrite the meaning of pop-punk revival, employing the sounds of the late-noughties Disney Channel alumni as a springboard and leaving the Blink-182 copycats in the dust in the process. It’s a smart move, lending the likes of sassy ‘Say It (To My Face)’ and the adoring ‘Kool’ a shot of pop-rock sweetness that never even threatens to become sickly. Elsewhere, ‘It’s Over for Me’ blends MM@TA’s heavier past and poppier present into a spiky package meant for dancing away the angst to, while ‘Thx 4 Nothin’’s carefree groove has fascinating shades of 2010s P!nk that sound like they were always meant to belong. Indeed, ‘Past // Present // Future’ does what it says on the tin in a masterful way, melding the influences of the past into something that sounds shiny and modern, and achieving the rare feat of making pop punk still sound distinctive.