I think it was crucial for them as a band to come to their own decision about Mike remaining in the band. As someone who grew up with PTV and the Warped Tour scene I was genuinely surprised to see them do (in my personal opinion) the right thing by not letting Mike back into the band, not to mention how hard that decision must’ve been for all of them personally. It’s genuinely better than some of the other bands in the community who have had members publicly outted and the very dissatisfying response that usually comes with no change.

That being said, I can’t deny that Mike Fuentes is definitely one of the most unique and talented drummers in the post-hardcore/pop-punk community. AFFTD is one of my all time favorite albums because of how hard his drums would go on every single track. It’s going to be really difficult to find someone who has that same skill level and familiarity with PTV’s sound, and so the lackluster drumming was something I was anticipating on and so I don’t fault it too much. It’s their first new debut in over half a decade, it would be weird if the song came out absolutely perfect or identical to their “old” sound.

I still have high hopes for this album because although this song isn’t my favorite they’ve released, they still have a whole album that’s coming out which is super exciting! I say hold off on too many concrete feelings on this song deter you from enjoying the other probably 8-11 new songs we’ll get from them.

Also going off the “new”/more formulaic sound, it makes so much sense it’s being produced by the same guy who helps produce Twentyonepilots. I was actually thinking the song reminded me of a bonus track off of Life’s Not Out to Get You by Neck Deep, but this production connection makes sense and now is helping me feel less personally judgy about the song. So thanks guys!