A few months back I was introduced to Scapegoat, a young canadian artist in the same scene of music as a lot of my friends and favorite artists. I was immediately hooked and had to know more about him so i listened to his full discography in 24 hours and then interviewed him. His music is the type that I keep on repeat and constantly crave more of and that’s exactly what I got today with “Life is Pain“. The 12 track album Produced mostly by Scapegoat himself features some of the hottest names in the underground scene including the likes of Skele, Kinshii, Not Home, as well as Caustyk and Slipfunc producing on 2 tracks. The best part of is how Scapegoat manages to make each track have the same feel but sound completely different from each other. The immense amount of work and talent that was put into this album already had me sold on it but listening to it in its entirety cements my thought that Scapegoat is absolutely up next.
The album starts off with “where 2 go” a perfect intro taking me back to times of shopping with my mom as a kid, the beat features scanning item barcodes and distorted synth piano layered with some background white noise that already intrigued me.
The second “safety pin” takes a complete 180 starting off with Scapegoats amazing guitar skills and soft yet impactful voice almost whispering in my ears, the type of song you listen to on a late summer’s night driving around with the windows down.
The third track “it’s not so bad” featuring Not Home again takes another turn being darker and more in your face than the previous two tracks. Scapegoat’s voice echoes throughout this one and then leads into Not home’s verse which sonically was a great choice.
The fourth track and my favorite on the album is “ghoul”, taking me back to my days of acoustic emo songs. It both shows the amount of talent that Scapegoat, Skele, and Kinshii have in this genre and why they’d be an unstoppable trio. the song can best be compared to the music of Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil and is the main song I have on repeat.
The fifth track and another verified emo banger is “we dont rly talk anymore” taking elements of midwest emo guitars which compliments Scapegoats tear jerking lyrics and voice.
The sixth track is “angel” featuring skele and is one of the most interesting tracks. The production from Slipfunc is on point for this one mixing midwest emo with lofi, and the reason this track interests me the most is 3 songs ago we heard Scapegoat and Skele making an emo track while this one goes to a more lofi and chill sounds. The talent these two have to completely switch their sound is amazing and a great mix in the album.
The seventh track “idc” is another chill yet tear jerking track with Kinshii and has a nostalgic feel to it. While not my favorite track on the album it does feature my favorite vocals from scapegoat showing his range.
The eighth track in “gutter”, another banger and another of my favorite tracks of the album. Although sad in context the beat and delivery of it makes it sound almost like a song to get hype to, and yes I will be crying and moshing to this song if I must.
The ninth track “corduroy” is the OG song that got me obsessed with scapegoat’s music and absolutely is ingrained in my head permanently. if there was a song that I would recommend to anyone it would be this one, both the music and vocals are on point and i could live the rest of my life listening to this song exclusively and I would be okay with that.
The tenth track is “september / stay away” and has my favorite beat and flow of the album. The way that Scapegoat mixed his drums and guitar should just be looked at as a golden standard when producing.
The eleventh track is “mood ring”, the track that made me realize I have literally been on an emotional roadshow for the past 30 minutes. Scapegoats vocals on this track is packed full of emotions guiding me to feel almost the same way.
The twelfth and final track is “come outside” and is the perfect conclusion to one of the best albums of the year. it lyrically and sonically wraps up the album perfectly, the line “come outside, i’m alright, you’ll be fine” definitely seems like the perfect line to end the the album on.
The whole album is easily on of the best things to come out of the underground this year. With a wide range of sounds and vocals there’s something for everyone on this album but best believe that you’ll be on an emotional roadshow the whole time.