The Oklahoma Kid – Tangerine Tragic
Release Date: 3rd June 2022
Label: Arising Empire
Pre-Order/Pre-Save
Genre: Metalcore, Hardcore, Post-Hardcore
FFO: Parkway Drive, Crossfaith, In Hearts Wake.
Review By: Ryan Payne
There are very few bands who can create such a unique sound, and even fewer that can pull it off to create something amazing. The Oklahoma Kid is the latter and the new album “Tangerine Tragic” is nothing short of incredible. This band have taken the boundaries of what hardcore/metalcore music could be and smashed through it with this record, creating an album that music fans all over can enjoy from the first to the last track.
We start off with “To Dance with Fire” and it doesn’t take long to know this band is a force to be reckoned with, taking the audience with a heavy groove that could get stadiums bouncing off their feet. “Pale Tongue” is another testament on how well these guys can handle the metalcore side of things. The album then takes a complete U-turn with the next couple of tracks, taking things into a more pop ballad era with “A Velvet Feel”, almost sounding like a completely different band with the genre shift. “Words Like Violence” is no different, coming at you with a track you could get away with playing at a club night, with hints of the heavier side displayed earlier in the album.
“Replaced” feels like the uphill climb back into the heavier side of music but still has a huge influence of pop, with the synthesized verses that these guys have used as their signature. The chorus though is very much admired, coming in with some aggressive melodic hardcore styled sound that really brings the whole song together. “Coming Undone” brings the heat back up with an energetic and groovy track that is filled with one of the more powerful choruses on the album and some very heavy sections that’ll get all the hardcore kids punching each other in the pit.
My personal favourite of the album is probably one of the heaviest songs to feature on “Tangerine Tragic” and that is the monster of a song “Waldsterben”. The track hits you like a freight train, more so with the softened approach from the last couple of tracks of the album, bringing a few nu metal elements to a very angry song. I feel like this is a good time to say that Tomm Brümmer’s vocal performance throughout this whole album has been outstanding, displaying an incredible range with his aggressive hardcore approach and his clean singing in the softer tracks. The rest of the album is just as diverse and incredible as the tracks I’ve already described, but I don’t want to take away the adventure of discovering this record in the way it should be, so make sure to check it out when it drops on the 3rd of June via Arising Empire.
The Oklahoma Kid have dipped their feet into several different genres throughout this album and have shown listeners with this record that there isn’t a stage on this planet where these guys couldn’t get away with playing on. “Tangerine Tragic” is a wonderful display of what music could be if bands broke down the stigma of having to stick to one sound or genre for an album. These guys have given us songs that could impress fans of metalcore, hardcore, pop, nu metal, alt rock and everything in between. This was a very impressive album to listen to, and I’d be very interested to see what these guys bring to a live stage, especially with the arsenal they’re packing. 
(4 / 5)
