Album Review: Anti-Social Summer by Dead Rejects

Dead Rejects are a skacore band based in New Jersey. They’ve been on my radar since 2016 following a split with Positive Junk but have actually been releasing on a very consistent basis since 2012. In December of 2020 they released their latest EP which was titled Anti-Social Summer. Featuring three brand new songs of venomous skacore with big choruses, Anti-Social Summer promises to be another excellent addition to the Dead Rejects discography.

The first track on the EP is Play The Fool. Starting out with a short audio clip which says “my rage knows no bounds” before jumping into the song, you are greeted with Shane Sparacello’s visceral vocals. It’s an intense start but it really grabs your attention. When we reach the chorus, the song becomes more anthemic and is likely to get a crowd unified and singing along. The song is about putting on a mask to cover how you really feel, something we all have done at times. Next is the EP’s title track Anti-Social Summer. This song is a reaction to the summer of 2020 when everyone should’ve been staying home because of COVID-19. The track talks about how it was great to stay home all day and have lots of spare time, then how it got boring and hard for your mental health but ultimately knowing it was for a greater good. I would imagine over the next year we’re going to hear a lot of songs on this subject, I would wager that this will be one of the best. The melody at the start of the song really brings you in and when the pre-chorus and chorus come in it gets intense and really pumps you up. The final track on the EP is titled Quarter-Life Crisis. After a long introduction, Dead Rejects really crank up the intensity. Shane’s vocals spit venom throughout the track as he sings about everything that seems wrong in his world. It seems that the story of the song is about having a breakdown in your life because you’re not doing as well as society might dictate. I think the song could be very cathartic for a lot of people who may well feel the same. Sometimes life is very hard and society does put a lot of undue pressure on folk. Always remember your life is different to everyone else’s is and your goals and achievements are just as important and wonderful as the person next to you.

This is another fine release by Dead Rejects. There’s a lot of buzz around the ska scene in America at the moment and I feel like Dead Rejects should be a band that get mentioned way more than they do. If you’re a fan of Suicide Machines, Leftöver Crack or The Infested then you’ll love Dead Rejects.

Stream and download Anti-Social Summer on Bandcamp here.

Like Dead Rejects on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.