Adam KennyTurnstile
Turnstile are an American hardcore band hailing from Baltimore, Maryland. The bands cast consists of Brendan Yates, Franz Lyons, Daniel Fang, Pat McCrory and Meg Mills. Turnstile have been around since the early 2010s. They’ve released several EPs since forming and have garnered quite a decent following for themselves. Hailing from the Baltimore hardcore punk scene, Turnstile have created a somewhat unique sound and niche for themselves. Combining hardcore elements with textured melodies that are as catchy as they are quick. Whilst established within their scene, Glow On, Turnstile’s previous album really helped put them on the map. Critically lauded and becoming a quick favourite for the band’s past and new fans, Turnstile found themselves rising to a relevancy they’ve not yet experienced. They very quickly became a pivotal listen in the hardcore and larger indie rock scene.
The blow up from Glow On
I found Glow On to be a unique, creative and enjoyable album. It’s not something I’ve revisited often, but have found myself finding another favourite with each new listen. Whilst this isn’t Glow On’s review, I’d recommend it to anyone interested in figuring out Turnstile.
It’s been 4 years since Glow On was released, and Turnstile fans have been wanting more. Which brings us to now, 2025 and Turnstile have released their new full length album NEVER ENOUGH.
NEVER ENOUGH, is it enough?
NEVER ENOUGH launches straight into it’s titular track which starts off with swelling synths combined with Brendan Yates layered, echo like vocals. Eventually the heavy guitars kick in like a kick through a front door. Something I’ve really come to like about Turnstile is the pace of their tracks. They constantly accelerate and decelerate, slowing down and speeding up appropriately. Slowing down for a guitar solo that leads into quick drums with a chanting chorus. The track ends in a long drawn out synth melody that gets interrupted by the rupturing kick drum of SOLE.
“SOLE” is much more in your face. The synths take a break, but Yates and the guitars do not. Yates vocals paired with the pace that is expertly set by the drums that’s matched with the rhythm of the guitars as they blare throughout the track. Quickly the formula of NEVER ENOUGH comes to fruition. Guitars stick to a riff, synths come in and out of the tracks as sparingly as Yates vocals. The drum either lends itself to assist the pace that the melodies of the tracks are riding or out rightly taking charge of the pace.
Speed, they are speed
Rhythm, pace, cadence: that’s the name of the game on NEVER ENOUGH. Synths provide these almost musical checkpoints for you to take a second and breathe whilst you prepare for the next onslaught. This can be especially felt on the tale end of tracks, such as “SUNSHOWER” where the last near minute and a half of the track is synths paired with a soothing flute. Mesmerising and hypnotising you like a snake charmer. Only for the illusion to broken by the introduction of the next track, much like “LOOK OUT FOR ME“.
“LOOK OUT FOR ME” is an almost 7 minute epic. I say almost not in reference for the length, but rather the content of the track. The first 3 minutes is the usual in your face gruffness that we’re used to on the album, but then that break comes again. Half of the track is a checkpoint for you to breathe, however I personally felt as though it wasn’t needed. I was hoping the breaks up until this point would lead to a bombastic wall of noise with “LOOK OUT FOR ME“, but that hope immediately deflated. The track felt less necessary and more like 2 songs combined together. This is where the album falters for me amongst other things.
Personality and consistency, but very little substance
I personally feel as though Glow On was a bolder record. Whilst NEVER ENOUGH feels like a more complete and consistent idea thematically in terms of atmosphere and ideas, sonically it suffers. The songs sound too formulaic and half baked. I often find the synths that are supposed to act as peaceful transitions between songs provide too little. The melodies, whilst peaceful and enjoyable in their own right, take up far too much of the room on the album. It feels like unnecessary white space at times on the album. Glow On in comparison was a tight 34 minutes, whereas NEVER ENOUGH is 45 minutes. The average run time feels dwindled almost, as much of it is spent on ambience as opposed to riffs. A majority of the album is of course still is the same fast pace guitars we’re used to, but the synths decelerate the pace too much for my liking. There are some standouts on NEVER ENOUGH, and whilst I wouldn’t say there’s any tracks that are bad, they don’t excel either. Songs like “LIGHT DESIGN” feel like filler in an album that already has some naturally built into it.
Conclusion
Overall, NEVER ENOUGH isn’t a bad album, but I would like to see the band bring things back a bit. Solidifying an ideas, concepts and themes for an album is great. However, in their effort to create something purposeful and complete I feel as though they’ve removed an edge from their work. I do believe that whatever they have planned next will be an improvement upon NEVER ENOUGH. There’s some great riffs, vocals and ideas even with the melodic ambient side of things. NEVER ENOUGH is a fine album that is largely inoffensive. It might stick out more for other listeners, I just don’t expect it to be in my rotation all that much.
