Stay Golden is the second studio album from Baltimore emo/punk band Combat, following their 2022 album Text Me When You Get Back and a slew of previous lofi EPs and other releases (including the hardest Christmas album of the 21st century). Stay Golden builds on the catchy hooks and witty, confessional lyricism of the band’s previous work, while bringing in “sharper claws and leitmotifs” and ska-adjacent rhythms, resulting in a fresh-sounding earworm of an album.
The album starts with a little bitty piano intro track before going into the title track and lead single, “Stay Golden.” This song doesn’t even hit 2 minutes, yet shows off much of the band’s musical chops, with catchy melodies and hooks on guitar and vocals, witty lyrics, and absurdly good drumming. The melodic guitar lines from this song show up again and again throughout the record, tying all the songs together, while not feeling cheap or repetitive. Thematically, the album includes a lot of heavy subject matters like depression and burnout, but always ends on a positive, hopeful note, as shown on the final single “Full Speed Ahead.” Other notable tracks include “Weird Ending Explained, Pt. 1,” an almost eight minute song filled with self-aware lyrics and catchy hooks, and the fast-paced, minute-long “Put Me In, Coach” that sounds almost like a Jeff Rosenstock side project.
Overall, Stay Golden is a fantastic emo record, loud, fast, introspective, and unabashedly dorky, checking all the boxes in lyrics, drums, and hooks to create one of the best albums of the year.