Album Review: Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome

“Hatred has consumed the nation.” “Why is my humanity worth less than you say?” “You want to talk about freedom, and we keep talking about change.”

The lyrics above dive into some pretty heavy issues. Are they what you would normally expect from a Fishbone album? They should be. The band has always had a political edge, but that has often been overshadowed by their lively performances and the overall stigma ska has earned as a fluffy genre, despite its radical roots.

Throughout their new album Stockholm Syndrome, trailblazing, genre-defying ska punks Fishbone make it clear they’re ready to rage against all of the modern machines like never before, with one big orange clown in their crosshairs. If you’re a fan of the band, you’ve very likely heard the album’s first single, “Racists Piece of Shit,” by now, which takes direct aim at Trump. While the language in the song is colorful, the angry sentiment in the track is pure and sincere.

From the very start, the band has the state of the nation on its mind, with the funky, George Clinton-assisted “Last Call in America”. The song tackles everything from racism to price gouging, while managing to maintain its melodic thruline. The band dives deeper into racial inequality on the melancholy, haunting “Why Do We Keep on Dying”. The song shows the band at its most expressive, filtering their mournful lyrics through a reggae groove and soulful vocals. One one might think the band had been listening to a lot of John Mellencamp after hearing the classic heartland rock influence of “Hellhounds on my Trail,” mixed in with the narrative of a man on the run from the police, tying into the bigger conversation about government oppression.

As I first mentioned, while Fishbone are associated with ska and punk, they have never shied away from branching out into other genres. While some of that spastic, riotous energy is still there on songs like “Adolescent Regressive Behavior” and “Suckered by Sabotage”, they also venture into completely new territory on this album. The piano and organ textures on “Dog Eat Dog” gives the track yacht rock vibes (until the hard rock riffs crash in). The song “Secret Police” is a dark, brooding alt rock number exploring the mental state of America’s youth and its connection to school shootings, and “Living on the Upside Down” musically and lyrically draws from the 80’s synth music of Stranger Things.

While certain numbers like the circus doo-wop of “Gelato the Clown” feel a bit throwaway, the majority of this album is the band firing on all cylinders. There’s meat on the bones of these tracks, and an experimental streak in the compositions that shows just how far this band’s sound can go. With the lush, layered harmonies of closer “Love is Love”, Fishbone even have a pop ballad that could easily be described as “Beatles-esque”.

All Fishbone soldiers stand at attention: Stockholm Syndrome is the kind of album you hope to get from a band this deep into their career. Pick it up when it comes out June 27th, and listen to the pre-released songs here: