Boys Night Out – “Black Dogs” [EP] [Album Review]

Goddammit! After almost a decade, the Burlington heroes of emo have returned with their six-song EP, Black Dogs. This album summoned up memories of the kind of listless longing and emotional handwringing that I hadn’t felt since high school. And I fully anticipated that there could have been the off chance that might have happened, and I’d steeled myself before wading into this beautiful son of a bitch of an EP. And still it happened. You got me, BNO. Just like you did all those years ago.

It’s the melodies. It’s the production. It’s the arrangement of the EP. It’s the song structures, lyrics, and bubblegum-barbed-wire-emotional-vitriol that’s adhered itself to the parts of me I had long ago forgotten about. Whatever you want to focus on in their latest offering, it’s good.

Summer tears and longing for bygone ages of comfort are just some of the genuine heartfelt impacts that made their impression on me while I immersed myself into the portrait that these accomplished musicians have masterfully crafted. I’m impressed that after all these years, they’ve managed to take a completely refreshing take while maintaining the same gut wrenching they were famed for. It’s pretty incredible when you think about it, actually, and I’m not one for letting bands in, especially not from high school days.

And yet, that’s something I want to be clear on: it’s not just because of nostalgia. This iteration of Boys Night Out couldn’t be more different in so many ways. With as many varied influences as post-rock, Britpop, and ’00s emo/hardcore that they’re legendary for, the band are doing things in this EP that make me excited all over again for what they’re capable of doing on future projects. Based on the strength of this EP alone though, I can foresee a horde of twenty-somethings dusting off their Trainwreck LPs while simultaneously recruiting an unsuspecting cadre of youth who don’t know they’re about to discover their favourite band just in time for the summer.

Black Dogs Track Listing:

01. Of Waves
02. Carried Away
03. Obsequiarch
04. Deadman Songs
05. Lust Phenomenon
06. Prayed All Wrong

Run Time: 23:39
Release Date: July 8, 2016

Check out the song “Of Waves”