Scary Hours Combines Youthful Energy with Mature, Critical Perspective on "Margins" and "Precision Grooming"
I recently joined Tik Tok and it turns out there’s a growing subculture of aging millennials who like to reminisce about the glory days of emo and post-hardcore music. I’ve gotten roped in a bit, as I’m not immune to a little daydreaming about my glory days. Back then, kids liked their music fast, hard, and filled with emotion. Bands churned out the kind of songs that you could sing and scream along to because of their relatable subject matter and catchy choruses. Ryan Struck, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind New Jersey’s Scary Hours, honed his songwriting chops in and around these scenes here in the Garden State, so it’s no surprise that his latest album, Margins, is bristling with the kind of intensity and emotion that was commonplace back then. The songs on Margins, however, are mature, and come with the perspective of someone who’s grown up and become acutely aware of many of the societal injustices (and personal struggles) that are part and parcel of living in America today. It’s a collection of tracks that carries a youthful energy, but with lyrics that represent a wiser, more critical perspective.
Margins immediately grabs you with its intensity, both sonically and thematically. The opening track, “Worthwhile Victims,” throws a barrage of rapid-fire, heavy guitar riffs and absolutely propulsive drumming, as Struck laments the hypocrisy of those who tend to “do as I say not as I do” when it comes to promoting democracy around the world. Title track “Margins” and “Normal’s Not New” are shots in the arm, as unlike “Worthwhile Victims,” these two songs go to 11 immediately, and have all the fiery characteristics of classic, in your face, hardcore while tackling a series of issues that impact society in a broad sense like racism, sexism, the negative impacts of capitalism and toxic nationalism. Struck also works in a most appropriate cover with a heavier rendition of Bad Brains’ “How Low Can A Punk Get,” and gets a bit more melodic on “Russian Cousin,” a song that traffics in hook-filled, crunchy breakdowns.
As a follow-up to Margins, Scary Hours dropped a brand new single called “Precision Grooming” late last month, which builds off of the energy and themes explored on Margins, but with what I’d describe as a hyper-current lyrical focus. Struck shared that the band wanted to put out “Precision Grooming” in June as a response to Derek Chauvin’s recent sentencing, noting that "Civil disobedience is curtailed by maintaining the American laborer’s status as an economic hostage. We really wanted to put this out for Chauvin’s sentencing date as a statement.” The lyrics definitely acutely address the dichotomy of the justice system, which benefits the wealthy and subjugates the poor: “Systematic lynching by a bourgeois unflinching. They keep shaving me down and fading me out. Money and religion legislating division. God bless precision grooming.”
Both Margins and “Precision Grooming” are out now via Pyrrhic Victory Records. They’re available for purchase via Bandcamp. You can also stream them on your platform of choice. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram and liking them on Facebook.
