There’s something admirable about a band that simply gets on with it. Athens punks The Overjoyed have built their reputation the old-fashioned way: touring hard, doing things themselves and keeping everything rooted firmly in the DIY spirit that punk was built on in the first place. Their third album – self-titled, no less – arrives as their most intense and honest record yet: raw, self-produced and fizzing with the kind of energy that only comes from a band that means every word of what they play.
Opener “Can’t Write Music” almost laughs at its own title. The thing fizzes with life, a blast of punk rock that suggests the opposite is very much true.
“Spark” follows and is more than happy to put the pop into pop-punk, proving that hooks and attitude can sit comfortably together when done right.
“Don’t Listen” chugs along with muscular riffs and layered harmonies, before “Rotten Love” detonates like a three-minute explosion in a sherbet factory – chaotic, colourful and impossible to ignore.
By the time “Party Eyes” rolls around there’s a crunch that recalls the 90s, but it’s the hook that really lands: “you could be my getaway, but I just feel like shit today.” It’s the sort of line that sums up the album’s emotional honesty in one perfectly blunt moment.
Things get tougher on “Joy Vampire,” a longer and harder-edged cut where the bass really anchors the whole thing, before “Laundromat” tears past in a blur – fast, furious and ferocious.
There’s real defiance in “Already Late,” which practically spits the line “we owe you nothing” like a manifesto for the band’s whole existence.
And then “Final Lap” closes the record on a heavier and slightly eerie note, suggesting there’s more depth here than simple three-chord abandon.
The record itself was created completely in-house, produced by the band with help from Athens engineer Marios Adamopoulos, and it shows. There’s no gloss here – just a band leaning into the rawness. Lyrically it pulls no punches either, tackling identity, addiction, break-ups and the mental weight of the modern world.
If punk was ever meant to be honest, independent and a little bit chaotic, then this self-titled effort ticks every box.
8/10
