Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH

When Baltimore quintet Turnstile heralded their return earlier this year with the phenomenal title track from this fourth album, it was impossible not to take its opening bars as the deep breath before the plunge. Ushered in with the same dreamy, pastel-hued synths and echoed vocals that helped to define its predecessor (2021’s Grammy-nominated ‘GLOW ON’), the build of ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ to a humongous, stadium-sized juggernaut of a track is intensely satisfying in many senses, and not just because it feels to epitomise the band’s talent for walking the tightrope between heft and lightness with such precision. In many ways, it’s this spirit - the leaping between an intimate knowledge of their heavy roots and a continued appetite for experimental pursuits - that makes this fourth album such a vital, exhilarating offering, sure to catapult them further out of the hardcore scene and ever closer to mainstream musical lore. 

Take ‘SOLE’ - which boasts riffs so gnarled and carnal that it’s almost possible to smell the sweat of the mosh pit emanating from it - giving way to the Smiths-esque guitar skip of ‘I CARE’, before a meaty shout-along chorus kicks in and it’s back in the world of stage-divers and crowd-surfing. Elsewhere, ‘DULL’ fizzes with glitchy feedback and sparse vocals around a main refrain that throws down with a punishing, nu-metal force, before the adrenaline-fuelled pummelling of ‘SUNSHOWER’ is unexpectedly punctuated by a serene flute solo courtesy of London musician and Sons of Kemet member Shabaka Hutchings. Later, ‘LOOK OUT FOR ME’ begins as a ferocious, fist-thumping anthem but soon morphs into a haze of smoky electronica, pulsing with a deft dose of melancholy (helped by a heart-wrenching clip from acclaimed Baltimore-based drama The Wire) to create something even more epic. It’s moves like this that, in other hands, could feel obtuse or baffling, yet with Turnstile, they’re perfectly poised; amping up the various shades of their sonic palette to dazzling, almost filmic effect. 

Ambitious and cathartic in equal measure, ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ takes the innovative blueprint set by ‘GLOW ON’ and finds the band pushing themselves even further. An album packed with heart and creativity, still committed and connected to their roots, here, they continue to prove their stake as pioneers of hardcore’s evolution, and it’s truly thrilling to witness.