This Is How the World Ends
The quiet opening of This Is How the World Ends gives Badflower room to sound uncertain before the volume arrives. “Adolescent Love” uses an acoustic setting and a restrained Josh Katz vocal to look back at an early relationship. The small details make the feeling clear without a large chorus announcing it. It is one of the album's most convincing decisions.
The record soon moves toward a much harder attack. “Fukboi” is short and aggressive, while “Johnny Wants To Fight” balances a strong punk push with a recognizable character. The guitars and drums give Katz's sharp delivery something solid to work against. “Family” is the more substantial song, building from controlled tension into a vocal performance that sounds increasingly difficult to contain. Its account of damaged connection is stronger because the narrator cannot place himself safely outside the problem.
“Don't Hate Me” works through a similar self-awareness with a very accessible hook. The gap between wanting help and resisting another person's judgment gives the song more depth than a simple declaration of sadness. Elsewhere, the character writing is less secure. “Stalker” adopts an ugly perspective without making the distance between performer and narrator clear enough, leaving the intended effect uncomfortable in an unproductive way. Some broader complaints also replace a particular situation with a much easier target. The album is better when its anger has something precise to examine.
“Machine Gun” supplies that precision through a story about military service and its consequences. The subject has a clearer human cost than several of the record's more general outbursts. The softer closing “My Funeral” returns to the question of how one person's actions affect others, though its final lift is less distinctive than the opening's restraint. This Is How the World Ends has strong performances and several excellent songs, alongside choices that blur the purpose of its provocation. Its best writing allows Katz to be vulnerable and implicated at the same time. “Family” makes that tension feel especially real.
