Trash Boat - Don't You Feel Amazing (Album Review)
Trash Boat - Don't You Feel Amazing
Released: August 13, 2021
Lineup:
Tobi Duncan // lead vocals
Dann Bostock // guitar, vocals
Ryan Hyslop // lead guitar
James Grayson // bass
Oakley Moffatt // drums
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Okay, so Trash Boat for me have kinda always been in the background of my peripherals. I'd heard a little of their music beforehand but never got around to fully immerse myself in their music completely. If you're in that (trash) boat too, it's totally okay. We're in this together! Trash Boat hail from the UK, signed to US legendary alternative/punk label Hopeless Records and their second studio album, Crown Shyness was released way back in 2018 and saw the band showcase their roughened up pop punk edginess straddling closer and closer into post-hardcore territory.
But throw everything you previously knew about Trash Boat out the window. It's been a few years between releases for them, and I reckon you're all about to make these guys your album of the year with their third studio release, Don't You Feel Amazing. This album is an absolute game changer for Trash Boat as we know it and like I did myself, fell in love with this album after one spin.
Kicking off with the title track, 'Don't You Feel Amazing' sees Trash Boat step it up five levels from Crown Shyness. Between the opener and follow-up track, 'Silence is Golden' you can just feel the amount of progression these guys have taken in three years. Holy shit. Heavily driven by the crushing sonics we hear from Bring Me the Horizon and Architects, 'Don't You Feel Amazing?' sets the scene super nicely for the rest of the album with its soaring riffage and post-hardcore tendencies. 'Silence is Golden' is a real highlight though, which sees lead vocalist Tobi Duncan experiment with layered vocals between gritty cleans and his heightened screams adding some highly sought after edge to the song. What is easily the strongest on this record is also one of the biggest singles of the year. HUGE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvs-_KaYfyA
While it's definitely easy to see the heavy influence of Bring Me The Horizon's last few releases here, Trash Boat have still found their own edge to this cool, new style they're brandishing. The pop-inducing, guitar-driven 'Bad Entertainment' flings the band into mainstream territory. Featuring a cool vocal rap verse from fellow UK musician Milkie Way, the song takes huge inspiration from 90s electro punks The Prodigy with a modern nu-wave twist and it doesn't sway too far from what Australian alternative outfit Ocean Grove and pop punk favourites Good Charlotte are producing.
'Love Without Needing' sees drummer Oakley Moffatt send it with a constant beat driving the song, before the rest of the band joins to build the song into an anthem of self-reassurance. This is the first track we've heard that seems closest to what Trash Boat have produced in their career thus far, yet the production quality here is scaled up way higher. Guitarists Dann Bostock and Ryan Hyslop absolutely kill it here with the punchy style they're adding to the band's polished new era. Where 'He's So Good' is a little more moody and emotional towards the beginning, it does build into a super melodic hook and powerful chorus that breathes new life into the album. It's enough to make you feel... all of the good things. Don't You Feel Amazing right now though?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cqmyQDkkSk
Almost to the midway point on the record, 'Vertigo' kicks up the ante once more to an 11 with a thumping guitar riff. Like 'Silence is Golden', it is a thrilling highlight of Trash Boat's new era, blending their gritty pop punk roots with a shade of stylistic post-hardcore/punk. While this song will most definitely entice you into a trance, the BMTH-influenced 'Alpha Omega' cements the band as 2021's biggest breakthrough act. Duncan tries something new here vocally, kicking us into top gear with a cool, edgy rap-style verse before taking over the song with a punchy as fuck chorus. Featuring yet a new guest collab from rap-metal artist Kamiyada+, 'Alpha Omega' is Trash Boat taking the best of metal and hardcore, recreating a staggering new era for alternative/metal as we know it.
'Idios' will make you fall in love with Trash Boat all over again with its show-stopping riffage and wait for it — the Silverstein tendencies. FOR REAL. I had to do a double take here, because Tobi is once again doing something different to his vocals that sound eerily like Silverstein frontman Shane Told. This is a wild throwback to early 2000s emo/rock and I don't doubt for a second this will have everyone's heart racing to see the band live. While 'Cannibal' slows down the tempo ever so slightly, it does fit nicely next to 'Idios' and 'Live Like a King Die Like An Animal' allows us to be immersed in the band's softened new rock edge. Trash Boat have most definitely shut the door on their past pop punk selves now. There's a mature, heavier darker aura about the boys which will only see the band reach new levels of success.
'All I Can Never Be' is the band at their most vulnerable point here. They're reaching into their emotions, as a way of taming their own self-conscious. It's a small calming moment for keeping it together for what is their biggest album yet. With 'Synthetic Sympathy' being the first single released almost a year ago, it did set the scene nicely for what's to come. Even if it's situated towards the end of the album, it still leaves you with a strong impression of Trash Boat in the present. The indie-rock tinged 'Maladaptive Daydreaming' ties up the album tremendously with a groovy, danceable beat that keeps us hanging on right to the very last note.
Tell me you didn't feel as amazing as I did after listening to this record just once. Trash Boat have seemingly perfected the transition from pop punk misfits to a well-rounded post-hardcore unit that's going to soar the band into the unknown. Don't You Feel Amazing left me hanging on for even more with every crushing riff and breakdown that sees the band finally carve out their place in the world.
With this album, this is officially Trash Boat's time to conquer the music world, and I fully believe this is the record they've been waiting to unleash upon us for awhile.

Trash Boat - Don't You Feel Amazing tracklisting:
- Don't You Feel Amazing
- Silence is Golden
- Bad Entertainment (feat. Milkie Way)
- Love Without Needing
- He's So Good
- Vertigo
- Alpha Omega (featuring Kamiyada+)
- Idios
- Cannibal
- Live Like A King Die Like An Animal
- All I Can Never Be
- Synthetic Sympathy
- Maladaptive Daydreaming
Rating: 10/10!
Don't You Feel Amazing is out Friday via Hopeless Records. Pre-order here
Review By Tamara May @citylightstam