Sometimes you just need a break, a rock to clamber onto in the middle of a raging river, and that’s exactly what The Flatliners have provided in the form of ‘Cold World’. By their standards, the Canadians’ seventh outing is a very calm record, but it’s what we’re craving from a band who’ve ridden the tides of punk for two decades without a lineup change or compromising their values. They’ve moved on from processing the generational trauma which dominated 2022’s ‘New Ruin’ and emerged from the other side with a zen detachment from the turmoil of 2026, and what we’ve got is an album that feels like your first cold shower after you get back from a festival.
That’s not to say that The Flatliners have gone soft at all. Lead single ‘Good, You?’ takes a side-swipe at enforced male stoicism and the “ever-open wound” of never being able to reveal your vulnerability, but with a dream-like, uplifting roar that dares you to have the courage to open up. The ironically titled ‘Inner Peace’...
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