American rock band Badflower released their debut album ‘OK, I’m Sick’ in 2019 following debut single ‘Soap’ in 2015 and the release of Eps ‘About a Girl’ in 2013 and ‘Temper’ in 2016. ‘Ghost’, the lead single from ‘OK, I’m Sick’ gave the band a breakthrough and since then they’ve gone on to score plenty of hits on the US Rock Airplay, the US Alt. and the US Main Rock charts. 2021 saw the band release second album ‘This is How The World Ends’ and now, nearly four years on, they’re back with fourth album ‘No Place Like Home’.
Having established themselves as a band able to turn out polished alt-rock with a commercial edge, fans have been waiting to see if Badflower might switch up the formula for their new album. The 13-track ‘No Place Like Home’ suggests that exploration may be on the cards in the future as the band hints at where their sound might evolve into something truly fresh and new. The album opens with the title track, which intentionally or not could easily soundtrack the unrest in the US at the moment. There are also plenty of references to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as the band drops a moody, emo track about belonging and battling self-doubt.
‘Haunting You’ combines an urgent beat with fuzzy guitars for a change in tempo. It’s definitely one of the most commercial tracks on the record and could easily be a single in the future. Showing that they can do more than just rock your socks off, the contemplative ‘London’ slows things down a little, exploring loneliness and longing. The social commentary of ‘Story of Our Lives’ resonates in a world where the majority of us are glued to our phones and can’t be without the Internet for more than two minutes.
Elsewhere on the record, recent single ‘Snuff’ is an expletive laden talk-sing rock track that takes you right back to the early 00s. It’s possibly one of the most out-of-place moments on the record, nodding more to the band’s early sound than the rest of the sound they’ve crafted on this album. ‘Swinging Hammer’ is a pure head-banging rush while ‘Detroit’ hints at a maturity that we’ve rarely seen from the band before.
In the final stretch ‘Number 1’ incorporates a little more of a hip-hop beat into the mix for a song that sounds like something you’d get if you crossed No Doubt with Maroon 5. The storming ‘Let Me Get Something Off My Chest’ captures the brat rock that the likes of Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne have mined to death over their careers, and closing track ‘Butterfly’ ends things on a sombre note as the band meditates on evolving and changing.
‘No Place Like Home’ is likely going to please Badflower’s core fanbase. It’s familiar enough to sit well next to their previous material and there’s enough that’s different here to warrant adding it to your collection. Those who haven’t taken to the band, or simply haven’t come across them yet, are unlikely to have their heads turned. Badflower continue to put out polished commercial alt-rock and they stand out largely thanks to the depth of their songwriting. The album’s most surprising moment comes on the emotive ‘Paws’ where the band pays tribute to the furry friends in our life, and the impact their passing has. Not what I expected from Badflower but it’s one of the strongest moments.
Track list: 1. No Place Like Home 2. Haunting You 3. London 4. Story of Our Lives 5. Snuff 6. Swinging Hammer 7. Detroit 8. What’s The Point 9. Don’t Be a Stranger 10. Paws 11. Number 1 12. Let Me Get Something Off My Chest 13. Butterfly Record label: Big Machine Records Release date: 20th June 2025 Buy ‘No Place Like Home’ now
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