4 out of 5

Label: Equal Vision Records

Produced by: J. Robbins

Bitter Branches’ debut album successfully reminded me that good hardcore / post-punk still exists. Not that I really doubted, but when you listen to a run of average-ish albums, you start to have doubt…

My small criticism of BB’s first full-length was that its stretch to incorporate some emo-rock / indie rock elements occasionally undermined the impact of songs, though on the flip-side, these juxtapositions provided exactly that: a contrast to pair their heavy punk sprawl against, arguably making that stuff hit harder. Seeing noted emo-rock producer J. Robbins attached to Branches’ followup, Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals, admittedly gave me pause. Though Robbins certainly doesn’t exclusively operate in that genre, and has also been associated with some albums I cherish, I’m not sure I’d heard him on something as outright vicious as BB could be, and worried that that suggested the band would be fleshing out their lighter side more.

Well.

Not only did they correct in the opposite direction – Give the Land Back hits even harder than their debut – but Robbins’ punchy production style proves to be an amazing pairing, bringing out the bounce of the group’s bass and adding a shimmer to the ripping guitars and some roundness to vocalist Tim Singer’s howl, all without overpowering the music, or the mix. But they almost over-correct…! If anything, the album could use some breathers; it’s a full, 10-song run, with tracks often running 5+ minutes, and although we have distinctive riffs and melodies throughout, all 10 songs are at a 10, and the band has a tendency to fall back on a bass-riff-to-drum-intro bit that does repeat on a couple songs in a row. At worst, this just makes the album slightly less directly repeatable than their first. But there’s a flip-side again: the music is intensely immediate; the band made a huge impression on me before, but this album makes an even bigger one, with Singer’s lyrical takedowns of society even more targeted by 2025 / 2026 events (though perhaps some will appreciate that you don’t have to code politics into the songs if you don’t want to – they’re specific without being specific).

Comparisons to other bands are not as forefront in my mind this time, even though this is still the same band as before. But rather than coming across as a combination of different 90s / 00s rock scenes – DC, New York, the Midwest – the barrage here is somewhat seamless. Shades of Deadguy’s punk and Lifetime’s metal are undoubtedly informing the sound, as does early Jawbox to an extent, but this has been shaped into something somehow more direct and menacing than all of that – the music of folks seasoned in this stuff, and not necessarily outright angry at the world, but both tired from and energized by its injustices, streamlined to strip away some playfulness from before in favor of just sweating those feelings out on stage.

So it makes sense to be pretty exhausted by that when the album gets to its final track, but it’s an exhaustion that feels earned. You can’t help but actively listen to stuff like this, where every note and every line is dialed in to matter.