1	IDGAF
2	I LIE TO ME
3	HOW ARE YOU
4	I CAN'T TAKE IT
5	I'D RATHER DIE
6	I MISS 2003
7	I'M SICK AND TIRED
8	I WANT TO SEE GOD
9	IN THREES
10	I HATE ME TOO
11	I'M GONE
12	I DIE 1000X
13	I CAN'T FEEL A THING
14	I WENT TO HELL AND BACK

As It Is

I Went To Hell And Back

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ft. JordyPurp, Set It Off.
Genre: Emo, Pop Punk.
Released: 04/02/2022
Via Fearless Records

Album Review: AS IT IS – I WENT TO HELL AND BACK

It’s fair to say As It Is have become a very different band since the release of their 2018 album ‘The Great Depression’, (The band’s third album which saw them treading into darker themes and trying to open a conversation about mental health) since it dropped the band have lost two members, Benjamin Langford-Biss and Patrick Foley (guitarist and drummer respectively), and like everyone else in the world have experienced one of the greatest catastrophes in modern times. The band had originally planned to follow up their 2018 album with a five track EP, however this was transformed into their new full-length ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ during the trying times of the pandemic. The band’s fourth album promises to be “fourteen tracks [that] are powerful, playful and fearlessly chase the unexpected”, here are my thoughts on ‘I Went To Hell And Back’.

I must admit with the release of the singles I was slightly worried going into this album, while lead single ‘IDGAF’, ‘I LIE TO ME’ and the reference ladened hit ‘I MISS 2003’ caught me from first listen with their catchy energetic hooks, and great breakdowns, other singles needed a few more listens for me to get into them. Joint singles ‘ILY, HOW ARE YOU’ and ‘IDC, I CAN’T TAKE IT’ took a fair few listens and I’m still not keen on them, with their overly processed vocals and persistent poppy electronic beat of ‘ILY, HOW ARE YOU’ just doesn’t do it for me, but I love the drumming in ‘IDC, I CAN’T TAKE IT’ and feel it’s the better of the two tracks. Now I’ve got used to both tracks coming up in my playlists, while I’m not overly a fan, I don’t turn either track off.

‘I’D RATHER DIE’ is the first non-single track on the album and it see’s the band leaning into their poppy electronic nature even further. Starting with distorted lyrics sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher, the track’s music is created with mostly synths and feels very clean. It’s hook is very catchy, but also makes the song feel extremely repetitive over it’s 2:43 runtime.

Jumping from the poppy nature of the singles the album contrasts this with the punky/hardcore tracks, ‘I’M SICK AND TIRED’ and ‘I WANT TO SEE GOD’, both tracks that caught me on first listen. The energy on display across these tracks is incredible, and truly something I never expected from AS IT IS. ‘I WANT TO SEE GOD’ feels like a true hardcore song in the vein of Turnstile, whilst ‘I’M SICK AND TIRED’ hits you with it’s punky nature but keeps the bands catchy hooks. Both tracks had me wishing for more like them (hopefully on a future release from the band), and ‘I’M SICK AND TIRED’ might just be my new favorite AS IT IS track. I can’t wait to see these tracks go off when they’re played live, and I recommend checking these tracks out.

I can’t help but feel the band missed a trick not extending their collaboration single ‘IN THREES’ by 28 seconds to make the track 3:33 in length. The song see’s the band teaming up with Set It Off and JordyPurp, to create a bass heavy track filled with catchy hooks, reminding me of something off Asking Alexandria’s 2017 self titled release. Both features on the song work really well. This then see’s the album going into ‘I HATE ME TOO’ and ‘I’M GONE’ which feel very Okay/The Great Depression era AS IT IS. I think these tracks are great.

Slowing the pace, ‘I DIE 1000X’ see’s the band going back to the more synthy nature of some of the previous songs. Since the first listen it’s just reminded me of Take The Backseat, Casey’s ‘Philophobia’ EP. ‘I CAN’T FEEL A THING’ has an amazing build up and release style to it, whilst title track ‘I WENT TO HELL AND BACK’ see’s a calmingly haunting end to what’s been an overall punchy, catchy, powerful album. It caps the album off perfectly.

‘I WENT TO HELL AND BACK’ shows the most range from AS IT IS. While the album feels like a collection of songs and is not as coherent stylistically all the way through as their past full-lengths, the tracks all keep to the same introspective themes lyrically. It’s great to see the band still not shying away from talking about mental health and their dark feelings, where most would choose to stay silent. It’s also nice to see the band both looking back and taking influence from the scenes past, whilst also forging ahead and forming their own style (even if it doesn’t always hit with me). For me this album occasionally misses but where this album hits, it smashes.