Gurriers ‘NOBODY’S COMING TO SAVE YOU’ album review 

Words by Olivia Beard

With the recent resurgence of new wave post-punk guitar music, and bands such as Fontaines D.C, Keo, and Bleach 9:3  making festival headline appearances this year, grunge rockers Gurriers and their new album ‘NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU’ are further proof that the indie/alternative rock scene is the best it’s been in the last 20 years. Their 2024 debut album  ‘COME AND SEE’ was a loud, thrilling, and deeply layered album that explored the themes of political injustice and extremism, religion, and the problems of the modern world, and with their second album, the band explores these ideas in much more depth, but this time harder, stronger, and certainly louder….

The record opens with the album’s title track ‘NOBODY’S COMING TO SAVE YOU’, and is an incredibly strong opener and a great introduction to what the album has in store. Starting as a slower and more melodic track, you’re soon thrown into an explosion of energetic, layered guitars and drums that perfectly showcases the band’s frantic energy and unique grunge rock sound.

This vigorous, captivating energy continues into ‘PARTY LINES’, a track that explores the band’s frustration with current political leadership, written as they watched the war in Sudan unfold, and it captures their anger and discomfort incredibly well. It’s a track that blends the sound of layered grunge rock guitars with a more ‘upbeat’ and ‘dance-funk’ rhythm, which results in a unique sound that would translate incredibly well to a live setting and is definitely a ‘mosh pit-worthy contender.

‘SHADES’ is a continuation of the hysterical and aggravated sound that was established in the previous two tracks. With the slower verse creating a perfect build-up for the explosive chorus sections, its contrast leads perfectly into the following track, ‘PINS’.

 ‘PINS’ somewhat acts as the album’s interlude and brings it back down to a calmer and more melodic sound. It’s a perfect example of the band’s talent and diversity of sound; its more collective, quieter lyrical sections complement the larger instrumental sections incredibly well and help to make ‘PINS’ one of the standout tracks on the album.

As the album continues, we are brought back to the same energy that was established in the first three songs, as ‘TODAY IS NOT ENOUGH’  throws you straight back into the chaos and exhilarating ‘noise’ of ‘NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU’ and is a great segue into the track ‘DRONES’. Being the longest song on the album, ‘DRONES’ is a ‘slow burner’ of a track, and gradually builds upon the layered mixed sounds of guitars, drums, and Dan Hoff’s ‘ghostly vocals’, and explodes into segments of a more ‘swing’ rhythm, similar to ‘Dipping Out’ off the first album.

‘NOTHING HAPPENS TWICE’ is a song inspired by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot”, the idea of ‘dead internet theory’, and  Hoff’s frustration with modern times. Its catchy, high-energy sound, clever lyrics, and distinct bass line communicate the band’s anger, frustration and boredom perfectly, and intertwine with the ideas and sound of the following track. ‘WAITING FOR FISHER’ is an equally catchy and addictive track, with ‘unpolished’ guitars and echoing ghostly vocals that continue to communicate the band’s shared anger with the world and the idea of the modern-day ‘druge’.

‘I WISH I WAS’ is yet another track that pulls back down from the high-energy, ‘mosh pit-worthy’ sounds from the previous songs to a more mellow tone. A melodic track that explores Hoffs’ struggles and dislocation while being away from loved ones on tour, with his echoing vocals blending perfectly with the delayed, ‘twangy’ guitars to relay those feelings. ‘I WISH I WAS’ is a surprisingly unique track and really takes you away from the rest of the album (and definitely not in a bad way). While the rest of the tracks are frantic, angry, and energetic political statements on the horrors of our modern world, this song hits you with a calming rendition that explores ideas of love and longing in a world of hate, and is certainly one of the standout tracks on the album.

The album’s closing track ‘CRYBABY ’ is a ‘haunting’ and ‘woozy’ number that perfectly encapsulates the ideas and themes that the whole album has been building towards, and ends things on a not-so-light note. It’s a song that somehow fills you with a feeling of dread, and its ‘authentic’ and ‘real’ sound perfectly ends the album in a way that makes the listener realise the reality of our modern world. ​

The Gurriers stated that they wanted to make an album that seemed ‘bigger’, ‘larger than life’ and with a sound that ‘slaps you in the face’, and that they have certainly achieved.’NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU’ is an incredibly layered album that’s packed full of energy, emotion and some incredibly catchy guitar riffs. It showcases the band’s anger and discomfort with our current world, and perfectly reflects the feeling of ‘despair’ and ‘doom’ that is a familiar emotion to many. It is a familiar yet unique and ‘sensitive’ approach to punk rock that will have you hooked right from the first track. It’s an album that I cannot wait to see performed live, and the Gurriers have once again proved why they are one of the best and most unique bands in the already thriving indie rock scene…

The GURRIER’S second studio album ‘NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU’ is released on September 25th 2026, via Play it again Sam. 

Photo by Steve Gullic