Some bands mellow with age. Pop Evil, on the other hand, have gone the other way – getting noisier, heavier, and more unrelenting with each passing album. What Remains, their eighth full-length release, is the culmination of that journey. This isn’t just another Pop Evil record; this is the sound of a band snapping off the handbrake, baring their scars, and smacking harder than ever before.
Right from the opening notes, What Remains grabs you by the throat. Sonically, it’s the heaviest thing Pop Evil have ever unleashed – a vortex of razor-sharp riffs, bone-rattling drums, and choruses built to level arenas. But beneath the power and aggression lies something even more vital: raw, unfiltered honesty. Frontman Leigh Kakaty isn’t just singing – he’s exorcising demons, tackling the battles he’s faced along Pop Evil’s journey, and, for the first time, refusing to bury the weight of it all.
“There are a lot of issues and things that I’ve dealt with in this journey of Pop Evil that I’ve buried for a long time,” Kakaty admits. “What Remains is an introspective collection of chapters in my journey, and what I’ve been through to reach where I and Pop Evil are today.” And you can hear that in every note.
Tracks like Paranoid (Crash & Burn) and Circles are unrelenting, dripping with tension and fury, while the title track delivers a knockout emotional punch. When Kakaty roars, “Is this what remains of me?” it’s not just a lyric – it’s a reckoning.
Album opener When Bullets Miss is a soaring anthem which shares the airwaves with arena-filling grandeur and fist-swinging heaviness. The chorus is tailor-made for festival stages, a cascade of soaring vocals and thunderous instrumentation that begs for a sea of clenched fists in the sky. Lyrically, this one dives into resilience – the idea of surviving against the odds, of dodging the bullets life throws at you. Kakaty’s voice is drenched in conviction, howling over a wall of guitars. It’s big, bold, and classic Pop Evil – but cranked to eleven.
Wishful Thinking has a completely different feel and vibe. It’s broodier, darker and has an almost hypnotic quality, a brooding undercurrent that feels like the audio equivalent of staring into the abyss. There’s a gutteral pulse beneath the grit that sets it apart from the album’s more straightforward bruisers. But when the chorus hits, it lands. Kakaty’s vocals ride the wave between introspection and explosion, the lyrics dripping with frustration and reflection.
Another of my favourite tracks is Criminal, which is chaotically brilliant. Destined to be a pit favourite and a signal to charge to the front of a Pop Evil live show, it lands with more smack than a Triple H chair shot on a Monday night. There’s an attitude here, a proper snarl that calls back to Pop Evil’s grittier roots while the riffs are mean, the drums sound like gunfire, and Kakaty spits every line like it might be his last.
With the band in career-best form – guitarists Dave Grahs and Nick Fuelling slicing through the mix, Joey “Chicago” Walser’s basslines shaking the foundations, and new man on the sticks Blake Allison adding an extra layer of controlled groove – Pop Evil sound positively tight. The production, helmed by heavy-hitters like Drew Fulk (Disturbed, Knocked Loose), Zach Jones (Fever 333, Maggie Lindemann), and KJ Strock (Ice Nine Kills, Motionless In White), ensures every track hits like an anvil to the chest.
But What Remains isn’t just about the weight of the riffs – it’s about the weight of the journey. This album is Kakaty dismantling the walls he’s built to survive, facing down the man he was, the man he is, and the man he wants to be. And its epic.
7/10
Standout Tracks: Criminal, Wishful Thinking, When Bullets Miss
For Fans Of: Bad Wolves, Theory of a Deadman, Shinedown
Written by: Eric Mackinnon
