If Warped Tour hadn’t sailed into the sunset, I’m sure we would’ve gotten to hear a sneak peek of “Battle Scars” already underneath the summer sun. Alas, we’re hearing it in the comfort of air conditioning. Nevertheless, the latest from Mod Sun feels as if you took pop punk and forced it to grow up – and despite what nostalgics think, that’s a good thing.
While Mod Sun opened up and went personal with “Battle Scars,” the song is written and performed in a way that feels as if any of us who have battled some form of addiction could’ve delivered. The lyrical content has this balance between frank and poetic. The latter comes through with Mod Sun’s earnest performance with the chorus reminding me of early Taking Back Sunday records. Again, “Battle Scars” feels like a song you’d hear from someone who came up in the pop-punk emo scene who is far from a teenage kid in their mom’s garage. Mod Sun is a grown man with grown problems and writes from this perspective, and it shows in the level of production and emotional control he has over every aspect of the track.
With that, “Battle Scars” feels like a bit of a departure from his earlier release from this year, “Rich Kids Ruin Everything.” That gave Good Charlotte meets Waterparks while his latest feels like the older brother of that track. That goes to show that Mod Sun is covering a lot of varying bases that fall under the pop-punk umbrella; a little something for everyone. To hear all of the above and more from Mod Sun, make sure to check him out on all major music and streaming sites today.
Written by Kendra Beltran
