Music Review // Playboy Manbaby "VIOLENCE"

 https://playboymanbaby.bandcamp.com/album/violence

One of the first things which will hit on this album is the opening song and call me old fashioned but I believe bands should come swinging from out of the gate.  In this almost spoken type of angry anthem, we are welcomed to this album with the lyrics of "Welcome to the shitshow", with "Shitshow" also being the name of the first song.  This sets the tone in a lot of ways for "VIOLENCE" and unless you've been living with your head up your ass in 2026, this is a great way to have started this year.  

My favorite lyrics on the first song include: "Oh what a beautiful time we live in / thank God we can say r------d again / Cause that was the problem that really needed solving / as the fabric of society is completely dissolving".  I could write an entire essay about how there are little fights being fought out there (as I type this, we most recently doxxed Banksy) that really don't need to be fought (we didn't need to doxx Banksy and the r-word is still a slur) while the country is seemingly on fire because those with power are too corrupt to do anything about it.  

"Good Times" comes in with a more dreamy sound in the verses, but a more sing along punk chorus.  The lyrics hit with "It’s hard to know it’s the good times when it’s the good times" and it just feels like something we all can relate with because looking back is a hell of a drug.  There is also a line in here which I enjoy that says "Life is so much more than all the bills I have to pay" and you'll find these lyrics throughout the entire album that I would have used as AIM away messages back in the day.

With a little bit of As Friends Rust, we go into "Way It's Done" which has a more fuzzy type of sounds like The Hives.  "Fire to My Yard" at first makes me think of reggae or The Police, but ultimately it's also when I begin to hear Modest Mouse coming out in this album.   We go screeching into "Talk Talk", which gives me the lyric "When you’re unemployed you know the weekend never ends". This should also be taken as a commentary on the unemployment rate in the USA and how even if you do happen to have a job it most likely doesn't pay the bills.

There is a bit of a more nostalgic sound on "Please Kill Me", though it also reminds me of Say Anything.  "The System" is heavy, "Obituary" feels like a dreamier wave.  "Criminals" has a louder screaming part and will hopefully help show you who is the real enemy because it's not who we've been conditioned to believe it is.  Starts and stops on "Mental Breakdown" and the lines: "And everyone is brand now cause everyone is for sale" hit hard in this day of social media.  "Hope" is a punk rock anthem and while we may have gone into "VIOLENCE" with a chip on our shoulder we can at least end feeling like maybe it will get better, or at the very least we're in this together.