Interested in watching an interview with front-man Randy Frobel? Click here!

Rather listen to this review? Click here!

"Don't wanna think about it anymore, I'm sick of banging on a locked door. I'll just keep living on the outside. Everything is fine, everything is fine, everything is fine." These lyrics in the track "Shameless" open up the latest album New Low by Canadian Pop-Punk band We Were Sharks. Consisting of catchy choruses, intricate guitarwork, and superb storytelling – New Low tells the story of being in love, falling out of it, and all of the complexities in-between. Formed in 2010, the band's current lineup is Randy Frobel on vocals, Jason Mooney and Colin Jacques on guitars, Matthew Sears on bass, and Will Plummer on drums. In total, the band has released four studio albums including; Highways in 2012, Not a Chance in 2015 (which also saw a deluxe re-release in 2020), Lost Touch in 2018, and of course their latest album New Low.

During New Low the listener could clearly identify how the band's sound was inspired by other Pop-Punk bands like All Time Low, Good Charlotte, and Blink-182. In doing so the band successfully created an album that was just as much fun to listen to the first time around, as it was the 100^th time.

As mentioned earlier in this review – the album started off with the track "Shameless" and with the heavy focus on Frobel's voice; the listener was immediately hooked. Other songs on the first half of the record like "Bring Me Down," "Problems," "Over This," and "New Low" helped tell the story about someone being in love, trying to move on, and being stuck in the past. Memorable lyrics from this first half of the record included; "Down, down, down and it makes me sick. Come around like you give a shit, and all you do is bring me down" off the song "Bring Me Down" and "I'm just a last-ditch effort on your last resort. I know you hate it. I know you hate it. I know you hate it" from the track "New Low."

From track six "Burning House" through the last track "Ready to Go," the band continued telling the story of this representational girl named Ashley and the ups and downs in that relationship. In the track "Ashley Pt. 2" Frobel asked, "Hey Ashley, what happened? I guess we never caught up, but back then. We didn't care, could be anywhere, flying down a back road, cigarette smoke in the Summer air." This imagery of being careless and living in the moment helped paint a picture of how this relationship was only about the immediate now, and not about the eventually after. Because of this, we can deduce that Frobel already knew the answer to his question, and was instead using it to ask Ashely if she's self-aware of the reality behind the relationship.

In all New Low was fun to listen to, and will be on repeat until the band eventually puts out another studio album. Many variants of the album have completely sold out on vinyl, including a "Moon Phase Baby Pink" color that was exclusive to Newbury Comics, and a soon-to-be sold out "Ashley" variant exclusive through Banquet Records. Definitely give this album a listen if you haven't already because it would be a shame if you missed out on the best Pop-Punk album of the year thus far.