Maggie Lindemann - SUCKERPUNCH (Album)

Maggie Lindemann is here to hit listeners with a “SUCKERPUNCH” on her debut studio album. If you came around during the release of last year’s “PARANOIA” then you’ll recognize a lot of sounds that were on that album throughout this record & then some. A year in the making to take us through her journey of self discovery. The album starts off angry, with its crunching guitars & painful beltings of what’s been eating at her. Kicking things off with the earnest “welcome in”, she wishes to be far away from the pain & when she’s out here entertaining the people, that’s where she’s able to get away from the harsh realities of life. On “She Knows It”, she’s feeling a woman who’s taken, a woman who hasn’t fully expressed her sexuality, she’s clearly not feeling her current man but Maggie knows that’ll change very soon.

The pop punk, heavy rock feels so far is impressive. There’s even electronica in here! Love me some genre bending coupled with her mourning the soul who is now dead to her on “casualty of your dreams”. She kept all this person secrets, making herself out to be the crazy one, all the while they were doing her wrong behind the scenes & even blatantly in her face but sometimes those red flags just start to look like flags after we convince ourselves it’s not all bad. She admits that she self sabotages every good thing in her life but the fact that she’s able to be so open & self aware of who she is, shows she at least recognizes the problem but as to whether or not she’ll work on these things is yet to be seen.

On “phases”, she finally confronts the hot & cold behavior of her lover, she’s done being confused by this person’s twisted sense of love. It seems this person only wants her whenever it’s convenient for him, they only want the parts of her that make them comfortable & don’t threaten their fragile little ego. It can be so lonely to be with someone like this, having to walk on eggshells around them at all times, not knowing what version of them you’ll get & overworking yourself to not say the wrong thing out of fear for triggering them. This person has completely broken her down emotionally but she’ll be goddamned if she doesn’t build herself back up & show this monster that she doesn’t fear him. Things begin to get more hopeful towards the last half of this album with songs like “girl next door”, “we never even dated” & “you’re not special”, which showcase more than just the hard rock she’s been giving us throughout the project but then she brings it right back with crushers like “hear me out” or “how could you do this to me?”, which find her finally taking back her power & moving past everything that was actively working to silence her. The whole album must be a sucker punch to the gut for whoever wronged her.