Ten years into their existence, the Manchester collective have never sounded better!
In the words of Hello Cosmos frontman Ben Robinson: “A lot of the record is about finding the strength to switch off digital screens and go out and live… We all need to wake each other up, get off the cool aid of digital apps, social media and algorithmic scrolling.” Well, you can’t deny that the man makes a good point.
Certainly, like many of the best punk records, ‘Come Out Tonight’ is fuelled by a strong sense of discontent. You can be assured that lead single ‘Gig Buddies’ with its squalling, spidery riff and impassioned vocals, is not an ode to getting lagered up and jumping around with your mates. No, this is the work of a band on a mission to raise the alarm before it’s too late.
Musically, ‘Come Out Tonight’ takes huge influence from post-punk and noise rock at its rawest and most abrasive, with Ben’s largely spoken-word vocal style at times reminiscent of some kind of end-of-days preacher. “Disco is dead/Punk’s lost its thread” he bellows on the opening ‘Joy Is The Way’, and it sets a tone of urgency for the whole record. In particular, on ‘Turn Off The News’, he sounds increasingly agitated as the track builds into all-out sonic warfare – of the best kind.
Elsewhere, ‘Hot Seat’ is a gloriously angular ode to…we’re not sure what, exactly, but that hulking riff that cuts in halfway through isn’t half compelling. ‘Black Gloss’ is built around a surprisingly danceable groove and a chorus line that sticks firmly in the subconscious, but the real surprise lies in the melancholy closer ‘Old Friends Know’. Laden with piano, strings and plaintive vocals, it’s the last thing we expected after the aural assault of what came before, and emphasises that the band clearly (and quite rightly) haven’t set themselves any limits.
Hopefully Ben will appreciate the irony of me staring at a tablet screen to write a review of a record that rails against exactly that sort of thing. Seriously, though – ‘Come Out Tonight’ is the sound of real life unapologetically barging in and trampling its dirty footprints all over your carefully-curated Instagram facade, and for that, we salute Hello Cosmos. The last great record of 2025? Quite possibly.
‘Come Out Tonight’ is out now – order it HERE.
- Joy Is The Way
- Grind Into The Shrine
- Spin The Wheel
- Turn Off The News
- Echo
- Gig Buddies
- FUK ZUK
- Hot Seat
- Awake & Bake
- Black Gloss
- Old Friends Know
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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