On
Moose Blood's third set,
I Don't Think I Can Do This Anymore, the British quartet continued to execute serviceable revivalist emo-punk. Following 2016's
Hopeless debut,
Blush,
Moose Blood got a new drummer and accumulated a couple additional years of pain to inject into their updated
Brand New,
Jimmy Eat World sound.
I Don't Think hits all the intended points -- a dour, sad-sack cloud covers all -- and should connect with the slighted and brokenhearted. However, even though it clocks in at under 40 minutes, much of the by-the-numbers album bleeds together. On the brighter side, a weary
Eddy Brewerton delivers these overwrought emotions with determined conviction, lending tracks like "Talk in Your Sleep" and "Walk All Day with You" enough heft to carry the album. More uptempo cuts like "You Left in the Worst Way" and "Such a Shame" prevent
Moose Blood from drowning in their own misery, echoing bands like
Acceptance and
Modern Baseball. "Can We Stay Like This" is a standout, a melodic breather that wistfully focuses on the good times rather than the exasperation and exhaustion that inform the rest of
I Don't Think I Can Do This Anymore. While it's not so much a step back as it is more of the same, fans of this emo revival sound should find enough pain and yearning here to elicit pangs of nostalgia (or, if the wounds are fresher, a sympathetic shoulder to emote on). ~ Neil Z. Yeung
