Society's Ills

On their second release, Montreal's Society's Ills claim that they took things seriously for a change when it came to writing and recording, a far cry from their roots of forming for the same reason many bands do: to hang out, drink and play Misfits covers with friends. So it stands to reason that their self-titled full-length is more than just a fluke ― over these 14 songs, the quartet fire off a searing, H20-meets-Bad Religion blast of rattling melodic hardcore, and on a song as killer as "Another Day," it's clear taking things a little more seriously has worked out for them. In fact, the more melodic the band get, like on the Kid Dynamite-esque "City," in which vocalist the Naj considers what makes a home, the more inspired and confident they sound. On "Thanks," the band literally thanks bands that have influenced them, listing off Canadian greats D.O.A. and SNFU, among others, hammering home the point you can already hear through this heartened set ― this is everything to them.