Album Reviews

If it weren’t such a cringy expression, I could have led this review with how nobody had "new Sludgeworth album" on their bingo card for 2026. But here is the aptly named Second Time Around, which we only had to wait 35 years for.

Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, the Chicago underground was all Ministry, Steve Albini, and Naked Raygun. And it’s in that fertile soil that Sludgeworth carved out a unique space. Armed with suburban hardcore roots and melodic hooks inspired by the Ramones and Descendents, they helped shape the Midwestern pop-punk template before the genre even had a firm label.

After dropping their 1991 debut What’s This? and sharing stages with early Green Day, Jawbreaker, and Primus, creative differences quickly brought things to a halt in 1993. What followed was three decades of myth-making: a classic posthumous release on Lookout! Records, a 2022 reissue on Red Scare with high praise from scene royalty, a show at the Cobra Lounge that sold out in 5 minutes, an appearance at Riot Fest, and the Together Not Together 7-inch.

Now, 35 years after their debut LP, the Chicago pioneers are back with Second Time Around, a 12-track collection that feels like the immediate, lost follow-up record they should have made in 1992.

Reuniting core members Dan Schafer, Brian McQuaid, Dave McLean, and Adam White alongside new bassist Simon Lamb (The Methadones), the band taps right back into their original, hook-heavy DNA. There’s even a cool full-circle generational passing of the torch, with McQuaid’s son Max (drummer for up-and-comers Feral Tact) stepping in to add extra instrumentation.

The album walks the line between nostalgia and emotional maturity. Lead single "Hold Steady" acts as a guiding light for the album, pairing fast-paced, melodic energy with a message about letting go of emotional baggage and choosing to move forward. Meanwhile, tracks like "Can’t Change Yesterday" bring a lighter, tongue-in-cheek perspective on accepting the past. But they’ll just as well drop the pop from pop-punk and go for something more in-your-face like “Kill Switch”.

The album does lose a little steam in its second half, but even then the band delivers above-par pop-punk with cuts like the positively radiant “Smile Upon Today” or the awesome closing track that is “Trouble Brewing.” I honestly don’t think Dan Schafer could write a crappy song even if he tried. Well, maybe if he really, really applied himself. I dunno. Point is that there aren’t any on Second Time Around. Just a couple that are slightly less memorable.

Second Time Around is an earnest, infectious, and deeply satisfying slice of classic pop-punk that seamlessly connects the band’s 1990s lineage to the present day.

Second Time Around track listing:

1. Can't Change Yesterday
2. Hold Steady
3. Together Not Together
4. Simulation
5. Tipping Point
6. Kill Switch
7. Our Better Angels
8. Hurry Up, I Don't Have Forever
9. Old Friend
10. Smile Upon Today
11. Rockets To Heaven
12. Trouble Brewing