If I were given the option of living in a utopia filled with hollow, soulless sound or enduring this drenched-in-dejection reality, I’d still choose the latter if it meant I could feel the raw euphoria of resonating with protestive cultural expositions like Forsaken by Rooftop Screamers featuring Stephen McSwain. Opening with a pure pop-punk riff, the nostalgia rush hits instantly before the band tears through any threat of predictability. There’s a harbingeringly histrionic edge that flickers between the contours of Green Day-esque pop-punk and raucous alt-rock, fuelled by enough existential angst to shake the dust off the genre’s complacency.
The single feels like an urgent act of rebellion against a world that keeps demanding submission. Each lyric cuts through with a sense of disillusionment that transcends performance; it’s a howl from the collective psyche of modern consciousness, demanding to know how we ended up in this loop of degradation. Yet, amid the hopelessness, the soaring choruses sell sanctuary, an echo of shared resistance. Rooftop Screamers channel that pain into melody with unfeigned volition, turning despair into something almost euphoric. Even as the lyrics confess there’s nothing left to say, their sound proves otherwise, bleeding consolation into an apathetic age.
Spearheaded by Mike Collins, Rooftop Screamers is less a conventional project and more a creative experiment in unity. Collins’ passion for collaboration draws in both local and international talent, shaping tracks with a layered intricacy that hints at his musical lineage—Bowie, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Steven Wilson, and Jeff Lynne all hum faintly beneath the surface. Yet Forsaken stands wholly in the present, a blistering outcry for those still wrestling with meaning in the modern wreckage and trying not to slip into full blown nihilism.
Forsaken is now available on all major streaming platforms; for the full experience, watch the official music video on YouTube.
Review by Amelia Vandergast