On October 8, 2021, California punk band Destroy Boys released their 3rd studio album titled “Open Mouth, Open Heart.” The album features 13 tracks, five of which were previously released as singles. The band has been releasing music since 2017 and are described on their website as  “what would happen if Blondie stumbled into a Misfits recording session.” The album is produced by Will Yip, who has worked with artists such as Lauryn Hill, The Fray, and Circa Survive.

The album opens with “Locker Room Bully,” an energy-filled song about bullying and nonconformity in high school. The song, like many others on the album, has a classic punk sound, with heavy guitar, drums, and bass. Even though I’m not a big fan of the lyrics of this track, I think the album as a whole shows a lot of growth in the band’s overall lyric writing. Songs like “All this love” and “Cherry Garcia” show that they can be more open and vulnerable in their writing, instead of just angry. 

“Open Mouth Open Heart” contains the first songs the band has recorded with Spanish lyrics. The songs “Lo peor” and “Te llevo conmigo” are almost completely in Spanish. “Lo peor” is completely different from the other songs on the album, and from any previous Destroy Boys songs. Their usual loud grungy guitar is replaced with soft, soothing strumming and the production is very minimal. “Te llevo conmigo” is definitely a contender for my favorite song on the album. Translating to “I carry you with me,”this song is lead singer Alexia Roditis’ tribute to her family and her Argentinian heritage. One of the only English lines is, “here lies all those who have come before me.”

After listening to this album many times, I think my favorite tracks would have to be “Te llevo conmigo,” “Drink,” and “Muzzle.” These songs best showcase the band’s emerging lyric-writing skills while maintaining their loud punk rock sound. On the other hand, I consider “For What,” “Locker Room Bully,” and “Escape” some of the weaker songs on the album. Still good, but not as interesting as the others. Overall, I really enjoy this album and would recommend it to someone who enjoys 90s-00s female-fronted rock such as Paramore, Bikini Kill, or Sleater-Kinney. I would also recommend this to someone who enjoyed the harder of Olivia Rodrigo’s music (such as “Brutal”and “Good 4 u”) and wants to get further into rock music.