REVIEW: Still In Love - Recovery Language

Britain has a long and storied history of producing excellent punk and punk-adjacent music. Right from the very beginnings of punk, where bands like THE WHO released My Generation to yell about the shortcomings of the day, to the SEX PISTOLS with Never Mind The Bollocks, and the more modern hardcore punk heroes in GALLOWS with Orchestra Of Wolves and Grey Britain, this island has been full of people spitting about what's wrong. Now in 2025, there is more to shout about than there's ever been before, and we need a new set of punks to stand up with spittle-flecked rage, expressing what so many can't. Enter STILL IN LOVE.

With their debut record Recovery Language, STILL IN LOVE are about to rewrite the rulebook. Members of the band have spent time sharpening their teeth and their skills in such acts as BRING ME THE HORIZON, DEAD SWANS, LAST WITNESS and many more, so they aren't lacking for experience or ability - but not only do they have skin in the game, they've got real bite. Their hardcore style, with elements of 2000's metalcore and screamo, is packed with raw screams and spinetingling riffs, with enough breakdowns that car insurance is most certainly recommended. Recovery Language as a debut is not just setting out their sonic stall as an act, but also them showing off their beliefs on their sleeves - from the abrasive lyrics on Tell The Truth, cutting into medical and psychological issues that plague so many - "Undiagnosed, self-medicated, paralysed, riddled with self-hatred" - to the pummelling Nervous Impulse, taking the caustic acidity of anxiety and giving it claws, we can see them addressing pertinent issues in ways that don't shy away from the core pains and problems.

Preserve & Cherish comes next, featuring SAM CARTER from ARCHITECTS, and this track tends towards the slightly more melodic end of the band's style, as opposed to the previous two songs that have been a hammering of sound, each under two minutes. Coming out at almost three, this gives a semblance of an idea of time to breathe, before a crushing finale to pass into Feathered Nest. This fourth track discusses boundaries, manipulators, narcissists and abusers in all their guises, who plead and beg you to just stop having some dignity, but comes at the moment the protagonist has finally told them that "I never want to see your face again. Sincerely, don't come back ever again." which is both subtle and intensely enjoyable, like a good wine.

Track five, taking us past halfway on the track list, is Inherit. This is a HEAVY track, both sonically and thematically, discussing grief, avoidance, and depression. The pain of a loved one leaving is always a wrenching knife, and whether it's by choice, by force, or by death, it's a scar that may never truly heal. Meanwhile, the next track The State Of Things To Come is the first to be over three minutes, and rounds out to a respectable four and a bit - all of which are spent discussing the horrors of modern life. Genocide, political upheaval, the rise of fascism, poverty, occupation, and everything else that is slowly poisoning the planet and its people. It's a brutal track, and worth sitting with.

You Have to Let it Go marks the penultimate track on the record, and includes the vocals of ANDREW FISHER of BASEMENT on the track. Further delving into depression, poverty, mental health issues and the crushing pain of living with these problems, it's a difficult track to sit with - but perhaps that's entirely the point. Finally comes the longest track on the record at a little over five minutes, Pillar Of Strength. Another track about losing a loved one, STILL IN LOVE pull no punches on the record and finish up with a screamo-core ripper that'll have you crying whilst tearing your vocal chords apart joining in.

Honestly, this is one of the most impactful debuts that the British scene has seen in some time. Full of political statements, with a modern take on a sound that needs more takers, the five-piece are primed to decimate show after show after show - as we saw at their very first show, at Reality Unfolds Festival 2024 - and will surely receive plaudits and flowers aplenty for what is an accomplished, emotive, and crushingly heavy LP. The only complaint? It's eight songs and 23 minutes long, and that is not enough STILL IN LOVE to satiate us.

Score: 9/10

Recovery Language will be released on September 5th 2025 via Church Road Records.

Words: Jasmine Longhurst

Photos: Still In Love