Recommended Tracks: “Asphyxiate,” “Payment of Pain,” “Warehouse Salvation” and “Insubordinate Ingerland”
Artists You Might Like: Green Day, Stand Atlantic, grandson
All the way from Manchester, England, Hot Milk have unleashed their venomous sophomore album, Corporation P.O.P, via Music For Nations. Fronted by Han Mee and Jim Shaw alongside bassist Tom Paton and drummer Harry Deller, the British alternative rock band offers a witty and universal assessment of the crumbling state of the world through a sharp British lens with the help of Mee’s educational background in politics. Produced entirely by Shaw, Zach Jones, and KJ Strock, the record takes their sound to a whole new level and sees Hot Milk at their heaviest and most unapologetic yet. Shaw shares the album’s sentiment,
“Not saying we have the answers but the conversation should ALWAYS be open, bring logic and evidence, and everyone should be able to change their mind, we are never finished articles. In a time where the doomsday clock ticks closer and warfare looms, it seems prudent to look introspectively into the human condition and attempt to understand the bigger picture to find a solution. The truth about ourselves can lie somewhere in between, and the imperfections can be difficult to accept for some.”
“(How Do I) Make The Devil Fall Asleep” is the opening track on Corporation P.O.P is the invitation to this blistering reality of anger and frustration at the current world. It’s a strong start to such a powerful album that captivates you for the listening experience that lies ahead.
“Insubordinate Ingerland” serves as a humorous poke at the nation Hot Milk calls home. The song is laced with their disappointment for modern-day England as the duo mockingly chants, “I’m England till I die / born and bred where the love is dead” in its chorus. Mee assures the track’s sarcastic undertone as she expresses, “Listen, mate. It’s a social commentary, calm down…but it’s kinda true. You know I’m right,” a line that playfully summarizes Corporation P.O.P’s main theme.
The album’s third track, “The American Machine,” sees the band explode and redirect their rage to the way things are going across the pond. Hot Milk recognizes how impossible it is to ignore America’s ongoing political issues in the best way they know how. The lyrics are hard-hitting and venemous, with “You’re half the world away / and that’s too fucking close to me,” being just one example of how disgusted and fed up they are watching from an outside perspective. Mee puts the meaning of “The American Machine” into words best, sharing,
“This song is not anti-American, it is anti-arsehole, anti-hate, anti-oligarch. Essentially, America can keep its weird shit over there. We do not want a piece of the American machine. The system is breaking. We have seen your country sevenfold and the love and understanding for those who are struggling is waning within your walls. I thought you were built on so-called Christian values? We live in scary and stupid times, how could we not put our worries into song form?”
“Hell Is On Its Way” serves as a desperate cry for action amidst fears of anticipated nuclear warfare and destruction. It conveys the anxiety of ‘when it happens,’ rather than a ‘what if.’ Despite it being the shortest in length, it’s an interesting track that features almost robotic vocals that feel like holding your breath and anticipating the end of the world.
The album’s second single, “Swallow This,” is a cutthroat and dynamic track that targets power-hungry political leaders and media manipulation. It emphasizes the ‘question everything’ mantra Hot Milk has injected into the core of Corporation P.O.P with a production that’s as cutthroat and thrash as its lyrics.
“Machine Elves – Interlude” is the first of two on the album that transitions into the next sector of Corporation P.O.P. It flawlessly blends into “Chase The Dragon,” a powerful track with an instrumentation that feels like classic Hot Milk multiplied by 100 and highlights the band’s heavier shift.
Hot Milk introduced the world to this defiant and bold new era through “90 Seconds To Midnight” back at the tail end of February. This first taste takes inspiration from 17th-century philosopher Rousseau and poet John Betjeman’s ‘Slough,’ acknowledging the idea that humanity will never be free since it creates its own demise. With the entirety of Corporation P.O.P now on display, it’s apparent that the band couldn’t have picked a more perfect track to usher in this new chapter.
The unfiltered anger continues with “Sunburn From Your Bible,” a vicious call-out to organized religion and those who weaponize it. It’s an explicit attack on the threat posed by these institutions’ ignorance and misleading nature. The track sees Hot Milk unwavering in their efforts to unmask the ‘holier than thou’ epidemic through cathartic screams, fast-paced guitar riffs and enchanting vocals.
As Corporation P.O.P winds down, it switches its focus to the individual rather than society as a whole. The electronic and digitized influence on “Warehouse Salvation” makes it one of the record’s most enticing moments. It’s a melancholic tribute to the complicated relationship with their home of Manchester. This one hits hard, especially with the knowledge of Mee’s eventual return to the city after moving to LA. Her yearning can be felt through the emotional delivery on lyrics like “there’s no other that could fix my soul” and “there’s no other that I would call home.”
The album’s second interlude, “Sediments – Interlude,” serves as the bridge to the album’s final three, emotionally compelling tracks. Corporation P.O.P sees its two stand-out tracks back to back with “Asphyxiate” and “Payment of Pain.” “Asphyxiate” feels the most similar to Hot Milk’s previous works while still being a defining turn in this new direction for the band. The core of this song is embedded with feelings of despair and desperation for the current state of humanity. The essence of Corporation P.O.P is found in “Payment of Pain.” This track emphasizes the emotionally tortured feeling of feeling hopeless and stuck as a victim of a failing and harmful system. It’s one of Hot Milk’s most compelling songs to date, with Mee’s bone-chilling repetition of “what’s my blood worth?” echoing the song’s harrowing cries.
Corporation P.O.P comes to a cinematic close with the album’s final track, “Sympathy Symphony.” It’s a moving and brooding invocation that turns these painful and frustrated emotions into something beautiful with a clear metal influence in its production. Shaw’s guttural screams towards the end of “Sympathy Symphony” are hauntingly impactful and arguably one of the record’s most intense bursts of raw emotion in its final moments.
If there is one thing Corporation P.O.P proves, it’s that Hot Milk is more than an emotion. The band has breathed every last drop of rage, desperation, and hope that they feel so deeply for the world into this stunning second effort. If it wasn’t already obvious, Hot Milk has now more than ever cemented themselves as one of the most daring and authentic acts in the modern rock scene. The album pushes for attention to these issues and brings the conversation into the limelight, beckoning for change. In their most ambitious and assertive creation yet, one thing is clear: Corporation P.O.P is a beautifully introspective look into the human condition, world violence, and will to find a solution.
