DANCE GAVIN DANCE Drop New Album "PANTHEON". ALBUM REVIEW

The Pop Punk Dad
Sep 18
5 min read

Dance Gave Dance have released their 11th studio album Pantheon, via Rise Records.

Frontman Jon Mess shares: “I had a lot of fun making this record, tried out some new things, experimented with layering and tone. We wrote the majority of the vocals together in a room, and I think that played a significant part in how a lot of the more risky and off the wall ideas developed. Reminded me of making Death Star and Acceptance Speech, and a little of Dbm 2, transitionary albums that feel a bit more all over the place than other albums, as the band figures out how it wants to sound again. With that being said I do I think this is one of our better albums.”

Pantheon sees the band building on their signature genre-defying sound with soul-shredding breakdowns, pop-infused melodies, and frenzied screams.

Earlier this year Dance Gavin Dance wrapped up the headlining Return Of The Robot Tour with special guests The Home Team, Belmont, and Dwellings. The North American run included sold out performances in Philadelphia, New York, Worcester, Toronto, Charlotte, and more. Fans can catch them at the top of next year on the E.N.D. Cruise, departing from Miami on January 22nd.

Pantheon kicks off the record with a melodic hardcore rollercoaster Animal Surgery. The track shows off from the jump the duality of screaming and singing from the members of the band which beautifyly transitions into track 2's Midnight. at McGuffy's, a previously released single on the album. This track feels like a pop song with screaming in the mix. It has the bop and the vibe of, dare I say a Justin Timberlake single with the melodic mix of a hardcore song.

The Robot with Human Hair: Rebirth is at times a straight up hardcore screaming banger with these progressive elements in it, then there's these almost hip-hop rap screaming vocals that turn into singing, with all of these progressive overtones that bend and wind in and out of the track. This feels like a math metal song with only 1 time signature. The Conqueror Worm is one of the strangest songs I heard on the record. It's hardcore prog song at heart with these hiphop and trap elements with scream rapping, and driving pop beats.

Speaking of trap, Trap Door is anything but a trap song. This song feels like it's taking you back to old school Dance Gavin Dance with a straightforward alternative rock banger. Strawberry's Daughters has that early 2010's dance pop vibe throughout the entire track that's very prominent in bands from the time. It feels like they're taking it back to that time while also keeping true to moving forward with some of the more proggy sounds in the mix.

Space Cow Initiation Ritual is as strange as the title suggests. One of the prominent singles on the album, it features none other than soul legend George Clinton, one of the last people you'd imagine featuring on a Dance Gavin Dance album, but I swear to you, the soulful hip-hop choruses he adds brings this whole song together. It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with bacon added, it's delicious. All The Way Down takes you straight back to old Dance Gavin Dance again, straight forward alt rock screaming hardcore in your face. It's something that I will say about this album so far as a whole, it's an insanely awesome mix of old and new vibes perfectly constructed together.

A Shoulder To Cry On has more of an uplifting hardcore vibe, it to me, has a, dare I say, a Coheed and Cambria vibe meets modern Home Team? I don't know if it's the overall drum groove or the lyrical melody, but I'm catching that vibe, oh and a little bit of old school Bring Me The Horizon thrown in the mix. A Peak of Supersitition is a straight up feel-good dance pop track with some melodic screaming in it. That's another thing that I'll say about this album is that it's so all over the place in one of the most beautiful ways.

Track 11, and recently released single The Stickler is a driving force to reckon with. It's got it's angelic moments with clean vocals and harmonies with the driving duality of the hardcore screaming and driving back beat to it. it's a given as to why this one is a single, top 5 favorites on the album so far. Track 12's Yike! as the title suggests gives that vibe. It has these "jump scare" moments where it's quiet and sweet and then takes off into these fits of rage and then breaks off into these melodic dance pop vibes back into the quiet and sweet, it's a rollercoaster with a lot of twists and turns.

Rounding out the album is Descend to Chaos, it feels like this track is everything that's been going on in the record as a whole, but encompased into one track as almost a summary of the album. It's got its dance-pop moments, melodic clean singing moments and then moments of breakdown, bass dropping brutality all in one.

Dance Gavin Dance's Pantheon album is one hell of a cocktail. The album as a whole has zero fat, there's no boring or drawn out moments in any song, every single note, nuance, harmony and guitar pluck feels methodically planned out, so the advid music listener feels like they're on an Easter egg hunt spotting all of these little things out, while at the same time, the average music listener can just sit back and enjoy the album.

Top 5 tracks on the album for me:

5.) The Stickler

4.) Strawberry's Daughters

3.) Animal Surgery

2.) The Robot with Human Hair: Rebirth

1.) Space Cow Initiation Ritual

...becuase let's face it, what's better than George Clinton on a rock record.

Check out Dance Gavin Dance's latest single "THE STICKLER", plus tour dates and more below!

DANCE GAVIN DANCE - THE STICKLER