Belmont – Aftermath

AFTERMATH, the band’s Pure Noise Records debut album, produced by the billion-streamed Andrew Wade (A Day To Remember, Neck Deep, Real Friends),  is driving a chasm between Belmont and their peers with a stunning evolution. Led by the classical training of Inguagiato and Lada, both of whom studied at Berklee College of Music, as well as the pure instinctual prowess of the collective, AFTERMATH brings never-before-heard influences to the forefront in a brand-new way. 

In a landscape more genre-less than ever, it’s the seamless, at-times effortless blending of disparate sounds that guides AFTERMATH on a hyper-modern tour through musical styles – steadied by the pop-punk energy that’s won Belmont legions fans on tours.

The opening strains of album kick-off “Fully Sent” – trilling trap drums buoyed by a distorted vocal sample – will leave listeners wondering if they in fact chose the right record, before all doubts are calmed as the band careen into punishing breakdowns, biting vocals and intricate guitar leads.

And then there’s “Country Girl,” certainly the most un-Belmont song to date, sure to turn heads among new and established listeners alike with its unapologetically pop-meets-metal-meets-country identity and in-character storytelling.

“I started writing it as a meme, thinking ‘F!@K it. Who cares what other people think?’” Johnson remembers with a laugh. “I thought everyone would hate it, but Andrew Wade took a big interest in it. He’s actually big into folk and country music, so he was super stoked to finally put banjo on a song.”

In a way, it’s the joyous absurdity of a song like this that serves as the truest representation of where Belmont are as artists in 2021, completely uninterested in doing anything but what moves them. The songs on AFTERMATH aren’t jokes – at times they’re deathly serious – but they’re all underwritten with a spirit of excitement that ultimately makes the album as much of a blast to listen to as it was for the trio to create it.

“There’s a lot of serious stuff on this album … it’s personal and vulnerable and hopefully people can relate to it. But at the same time, the process of making it taught us to remember to have fun,” says Johnson. 

“All our influences are here, and we put them into one big melting pot,” Lada adds. “More than anything, I just hope this album inspires people to give less of a fuck and instead do whatever they want.”