Turnstile – Never Enough Album Review

Jonathan Marin 

Rap/Hip Hop/General Music Journalist  

Discovering Turnstile’s music is an experience like no other. It’s something every music fan yearns for, and it’s what happened to me with this band. From the get-go, they didn’t seem like just another hardcore band in the crop of many. No, they felt like something different. Something special. Something I knew would rise above the rest. That’s exactly what happened when, in 2022, the band released “Glow On.” Once they released “Glow On” it shot them to a stratosphere never before reached by any of their peers in their genre. World Tours, Music in Taco Bell commercials, and Billboards in Times Square proved just how big they had become. But why this hardcore band?  “Glow On” seemed like such an incredible but somehow natural next step in the band’s journey.

It was a fresh sound that no one had really attempted. A hardcore band that incorporated dream pop elements sounded like something that would have never worked, but somehow it did. Their fans and mainstream audiences alike loved what they heard. Not only did they stay true to themselves and their audience, but they also experimented and made their music digestible for new fans in a fresh way. That’s why the anticipation was high to see what the band would do next, hence the band’s latest record, Never Enough.

The first single, “Never Enough,” was a classic tale of “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” as you can immediately hear the similarities to the band’s last opener, “Mystery.” While similar in nature, the structure is improved and tweaked to make it more than stand on its own.“Never Enough” has an amazing way of easing you into lush soundscapes of the track. Accompanied by Brendan’s high register singing and catchy lyricism. This portion works to elevate the intensity of the second half. When the second portion of this track jumps in, you can almost feel your heart start thumping as if transported into a new world. The world of “Never Enough. 

The album smoothly transitions into the much more aggressive track “Sole.” “Sole” itself is solid enough, but it’s here where a less-than-ideal trend starts for the record. “Sole” is a great example of just a safe track, as it isn’t particularly anything I was impressed by. And there are a handful of tracks that give this sort of “meh feeling.” Such as “Slowdive” and “Light Design.” These tracks, while solid, only work to fill places in the track list as not much new experimentation is done, leaving this empty feeling. They suffer from a clear lack of fleshing out and lack of substance, leaving a hollow mark, which almost makes it feel like the band could have trimmed the fat a bit on this record instead of committing to the 14-song track list.

This trend isn’t a mainstay throughout, though, as Turnstile does innovate in new ways they haven’t done before. “Dreaming” is a hardcore track with these Blaring Horns that accompany the classic turnstile riffage and form a wall of sound that can intrigue even the most skeptical of minds. The horns just fit so perfectly within the mix that it makes you wonder why they’ve never used them before.

“Lookout for me” is a multifaceted track and one of the most impressive showings the band puts on this record. Structurally speaking, it is incredible in the way it takes you on a musical journey, transitioning you from one portion of the song to the next in a concise way. There are also some amazing choruses on here that I’ll find myself singing for ages, which is something the band has become known for over the years, with songs like “Generator” and “Fazed Out” from earlier records.

The band loves creating earworm choruses for all to hear.  “I care” has one of the most anthemic choruses the band has ever put out, which has me amped up all the way through the song. It’s incredibly melodic and grabs your attention the moment the chorus kicks in. “Sunshower” is a hard hitter, an incredible successor to “T.L.C.” from the album before. The rhythms of the song bring an insane punch along with Brendan’s signature powerful singing, just leave you wanting more.

“Birds” is very much in the same wheelhouse, and as a classic Turnstile fan, it was more than a welcome addition. The band even decides to get a bit more personal in tone with the song “Time Is Happening which is a bit different from their usual general song topics. “Time is happening” is an incredibly catchy tune with somber undertones that hits you on first listen. The vocal melody stages Brendan’s Voice on full display. The complex emotions cut through the mix.

The genuine sorrow is so evident, and I hope the band goes to that place more often. Seriously. “Time Is Happening”  serves as a perfect track that helps transition into the final track of the record in “Magic Man.” With lyrics like “Always in the wind, while you’re slipping through the hands that you hold,” That paints such a powerful image, it makes you forget that this is indeed a hardcore band. But it’s now undeniable that they are more.

This record grabbed me at points, while in some parts it definitely loosened its grip a bit on me. The tracks that interested me the least further worked to prove this theory to me as they felt awkward and empty, sort of, songs that never really became fleshed out. The songs that enthralled me into the record that most were the ones where Turnstile went full force into whatever idea they had.

The band is still very much in a transitional period in their career, where they aren’t exactly sure where this new pathway is going to take them but are willing to see where it goes I do not doubt in my mind that whatever the band does next, it’ll be them in their final form. The trajectory for this band is truly only upwards, and the sky’s the limit for Turnstile!