ALBUM REVIEW: pulses. – It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This

pulses. maintain their witty pen game and technical proficiency, but there is something else here, a musical passion and spirit, that only comes from a band that lives and breathes their craft

It’s pulses. baybeeee.

Anyone who has been paying attention to anything going on in the post-hardcore scene will be well aware of this band by now. Hailing from Virginia, the four-piece have been breaking all the rules of the scene for a while now, with their blend of styles that pulls from influences of predominantly black genres and brings some much needed creativity to a scene that in many aspects had grown stagnant.

Their sophomore effort ‘Speak It Into Existence’ was a particularly great release, with huge tracks such as the frenzied ‘Louisiana Purchase’, the infectious ‘Exit Warp Brakes’, and the surprisingly gorgeous closing track ‘Graduation Day’. It’s the kind of album that many bands would be happy to have as their magnum opus. But not pulses..

The fierce fun attitude of pulses. remains, but ‘It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This’ feels like the band finally having the confidence to acknowledge how vital they are to the post-hardcore scene, and putting out a collection of tracks that at times feels utterly revolutionary; there is simply no one doing it quite like pulses. right now.

A good part of that is just how unashamedly black this album is. From moments of 80’s hip-hop and funk woven into the noodling riffs and breakdowns, to the appearances of peers such as Hansel Romero of nightlife, ‘It Wasn’t[…]’ feels like a celebration of the black community within the alternative scene, and culminates in an album that feels as important as it is fantastically enjoyable.

Tracks such as ‘Ain’t Got No Ceiling’ and ‘Honesty, Honestly’ lean big into some pop-punk and emo vibes, with the latter featuring a great couple of bars from post-hardcore contemporaries With Sails Ahead. ‘Heaven or Helvetica’ is a heavy hitter of a track that rewards long-time fans of the band with melodic allusions to one of the band’s first releases, ‘The Appetizer’, whilst the closer ‘But It Is’, featuring Carson Pace of The Callous Daoboys, is a startlingly emotive piece that wraps the album up with a particularly gorgeous guitar passage that explodes into a beautifully written spoken word passage.

Prior to all of that, however, is one of the greatest three track runs of 2023. ‘Different Strokes’, ‘Run The Ghouls’, and ‘Loafers With the White Socks’ kick the album off on such and eclectic and vibrant note that leaves you totally energised. From the blistering, near dance-punk rhythms of ‘Different Strokes’, to the fantastic collection of musicians that collaborate on the funky ‘Loafers With the White Socks’, it’s a simply perfect combination of tracks that is a pure adrenaline rush to listen to.

The rest of the album maintains that momentum well into the dying moments, and carries you right over to that repeat button to experience it again and again. And after that, probably once more for good measure.

‘It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This’ isn’t just a good collection of tracks. What pulses. have created here is an accomplished album that serves as stark reminder of what saying ‘fuck genre boundaries’ can lead you to. Yes, pulses. maintain their witty pen game and technical proficiency, but there is something else here, a musical passion and spirit, that only comes from a band that lives and breathes their craft.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. But god damn am I glad it is.

RATING: 89/100 – Mostly Excellent 

For Fans Of: nightlife, Closure In Moscow, Bear Ghost, LS Dunes

Physical copies of the album are available here.

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Twitter // Spotify // Bandcamp