Stillborn Superstar Turns Anger Into an Anthem

With the rise of self-produced independent solo projects in music over the past
decade or so, more and more amazing albums are coming from the deepest corners of
the internet. Stillborn Superstar by rising E-Punk project NEET is evidence that you
don’t need to be in a studio to get that studio sound. The LP has a post grunge tone to
the whole thing while implementing modern digital drums giving the project a sharp
digi-punk tone. While the production alone is impressive, this hidden gem has much
more to offer than just technical impressiveness. Stillborn Superstar centers mostly
around themes of spite, angst, and general hopelessness and does so in a way that
lacks nuance to its own benefit; Tracks like No Saving Me, I really really hate you, and
Same Old Routine capture this raw emotion best. The album sounds as if it’s just one
big rant from your most pessimistic friend, offering a level of honesty that you won’t find
anywhere in the current mainstream. This isn’t to say there’s nothing good or authentic
has dropped in pop, but rather NEET paints such a flawed, imperfect self portrait of his
mind and brings you through every self-destructive thought making it undeniably
personal.
The album opens with From the Dirt, a track with a killer lineup if you’re familiar
with the E-Punk scene. It features artists h4rtbrkr and DethTech, and is a great tone
setter for the rest of the LP with crashing guitars, melodic a melodic bridge and heavy
breakdowns each provided by different artists on the track. Track two, Parking Garage
Suicide, is my personal favorite. The song opens with drums like a machine gun and
only builds from there. While the topic is heavy it captures the emotions it wants to
perfectly and is as frantic as a racing mind. The next two tracks, Washed Up and No
Saving Me dive into themes of self loathing and isolation, a hallmark of any E-Punk
album. The fan favorite is next, featuring the biggest name on the project. I really really
hate you featuring Fried By Fluoride is a more light hearted track (at least compared to
the others) that sounds like a bad break up. The remainder of the album keeps up these
same themes and general musical structure that you’d come to expect from the opening
tracks, with some back half highlights being The Whole world is nothing, What I’m Good
For, and Same Old Routine featuring Crustsox.
Overall this is an extremely personal album from NEET, and it is his best work
yet. While some might be turned away by the theming or the lack of nuance in the lyrics,
any alt rock fan of bands like Deftones or Nirvana should give this new wave of grunge
adjacent music a listen. It’s not a perfect album and it doesn’t leave much to the
imagination in terms of introspection, but Stillborn Superstar is an extremely fun listen
with music that feels authentic to the core. 7/10