image courtesy of Earshot Media

Single Review of Rocketsuit Rogue: “The Best Last Day on Earth”

Rocketsuit Rogue, led by former Zebrahead frontman Matty Lewis (songwriter, vocalist, guitarist), is set to release its debut album, Hello, Apocalypse!, on August 21st. “The Best Last Day on Earth” is the third (and most recent) single released in advance of the album.

The first two singles, “Our Last Parade” and “Home Sweet Home (Sweet Misery),” gave raucous, faster-than-typical pop-punk vibes, showing off some neatly blistering guitar riffs and intense vocals, with the former leaning a little more anarchic punky while the latter pegged the tunefulness harmony needle a little bit harder. When compared with the first two single releases, I think “The Best Last Day on Earth” has a much stronger chance to attract a massive crossover audience, appealing to fans spanning multiple rock ‘n roll subgenres.

photo courtesy of Earshot Media

“Best Last Day…” gets faster-paced in spots, but mostly it’s a mid-tempo, alt-rock number with radio-friendly tunefulness. The tone, tempo, and melodiousness all remind me of one of my favorite fun, uber-catchy, mid-speed rock bands, Best Not Broken. Right from the get-go, the guitar tone on “Best Last Day…” is warm and a little swoopy (by that I mean not slack but still a bit beachy), there’s some playfulness in the tempo, and the verses adeptly set up the “whoa-oh!” level-up to the power of the peppy chorus. Drum use, bent guitar lick as a transition, vocal breakdown in the late song lyrical bridge, faster tempo in the back half of the song to keep the energy up – it’s as if every hook-creating, crowd-appealing tactic has been thrown into a single song, and it all works.

So, yeah, if you like pop music, rock music, pop-punk, really anything with a guitar, you’ve gotta hear “The Best Last Day on Earth.” It may be the catchiest song you hear this year, and it might even become your song of the summer. You can thank me later.