Die Young with Me

Blacklist Royals’ first album, 2010’s Semper Liberi, was a punchy, American rock 'n' roll record with a stinging punk bite: commercial rock with a slight Social Distortion influence or a Gaslight Anthem edge. For album No. 2, they probably asked themselves: "Why change a thing?" With twin brothers Nat and Rob Rufus heading the band—and everyone celebrating Rob’s remission status in his fight with a serious and aggressive cancer—Die Young with Me is a like a middle finger to the threat the title conjures. Rob’s songwriting addresses the fickleness of fate and the impermanence of things, especially on tunes like the title track (which has a killer rolling chorus and great, hooky guitar part), and the nostalgic “Missing Something” (a tune ringing with the confessional vibe of Paul Westerberg, as does “Last Days of the Suicide Kid”). “Righteous Child” opens up in a burst, its anthemic chorus of “You were always such a righteous, righteous, rockin’, desperate child!” sounding like a slogan worthy of an entire stadium’s worth of fist-pumping. Die Young is an energetic filtering of a wide swath of the American rock landscape.