By: Erik Reyes
September 1, 2020

There’s a lot to say about Virginian native act Her Majesty. Much of it is just a breathless hail of nostalgic compliments. Their sound took me back to my teens blasting the Eyeball Records single sampler, gushing over early “My Chemical Romance”, “Thursday”, “Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer”, “My Epiphany”, “Kiss Kiss” and various other acts half of you reading this are too young to know.

“Downer”, their newest release, struck a chord with me right off the bat. The vocal stylings here are the main draw, for me, as they harken back to an earlier era of Punk, Rock, Emo, and the various inter-genre gremlins that we all obsessed over in our adolescence. In pop there is a fear of overly rounded syllables, of the higher shrieks, warbles and even deep, raspy throatiness the voice is capable of, for fear of breaking the flawless veneer the genre the genre puts on. Punk has no such fear. 

The sound itself isn’t harsh or abrasive, but not out of concern for the listener. It’s there to support the story, the vibe. And it does it well. A regretful letter to someone who should have known better, maybe even deserved better, plays out, much to our enjoyment. 

It’s hard to feel excited about much lately. But I’m excited about Her Majesty.

Stream the track below, and be sure to tell us what you think on social media at: @gasmaskmagazine.

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