Dayton, Ohio-located long-running punk band The Raging Nathans are back with a brand new album less than a year after their last full length, Oppositional Defiance, and they have stepped it up in every way.

Waste My Heart is the band’s fourth studio album that follows a slew of split 7” records, EPs, and three other LPs, and it sees a major development in their tone and songwriting. The LP was recorded over five days in September 2020 at Capitol City Studio in Springfield, Illinois.

The Raging Nathan’s members’ ability to write under-two-minute punk rock rippers with anthemic choruses is now highlighted by their penchant for writing slightly longer and more complex songs that blend intricate guitar work with the honest and introspective lyrics that they have come to be known for.

New themes for the band collide with familiar ones Including poverty, politics, love, and hate. The drumming is tight courtesy of Patrick Cost, Christian Roerig’s bass is always in your face, the music is relatable in general, and clearly having a solid lineup for several years has the band good.

Drawing on Influences from The Buzzcocks to H2O, and inspired by the roster of early Lookout, Epitaph, and Fat Wreck labels, the evolution of The Raging Nathans is on full display with Waste My Heart.

The band’s longtime songwriters Josh Goldman (vocals, guitar) and Nick Hamby* ‘s (vocals, guitar) collaborative efforts really shine. Tireless in their work and effort, they have proved their importance as a band to their peers and to themselves every step of the way.

They are prolific, unapologetic, and Waste My Heart cements their legacy as one of the world’s last great punk bands who have something important to say and play all-out on their songs.

Big Takeover is pleased to host the premiere of “I Could Never Fall in Love With You,” which is actually a slightly change-of-pace number for The Raging Nathans that adds a dreamy, harmony-laden aspect and building-in-intensity composition to their usual punk aesthetics.

While they usually go all-out with punk ferocity, the still-dynamic “I Could Never Fall in Love With You” is imbued with a definite pop-punk tunefulness that makes it stick in the mind long after the track stops spinning.

Kicky drum tempos, a supply roving bass line, and bright guitar jags propel the song forward, as Goldman and Hamby’s at times twinned vocals harmonically range over the instrumentation with melodic and calm ease.

While the song’s title may sound negative, the upbeat lyrics of “You’re never alone” and “You got me” seem to prove that the opposite is true.

Waste My Heart arrives on June 4th via Rad Girlfriend Records in the US and Brassneck Records in the UK/Europe, and on cassette via Dead Broke Records.

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