On ROCK N ROLL ANIMAL, the Toronto rocker, Emily Mac, turns heartbreak, toxic relationships and existential anxiety into a ferocious collection of classic-rock muscle, bluesy grit and glam-rock attitude. Produced by Dajaun Martineau, the debut EP sounds like Mac taking everything that threatens to bury her and throwing it straight into an amplifier.
“Whiskey Like Me” makes that attitude abundantly clear. Grinding, gritty guitars collide with thumping beats and a smug, swaggering rhythm, while Mac delivers her vocal with confidence and razor-sharp attitude. The song’s whiskey metaphor deliciously defies being someone’s trophy, consolation prize or easy fix. Her vocal performance has the bite of someone who knows exactly what she brings to the table and has no intention of letting anyone drink her down.
“Buried Alive” shifts the emotional temperature. The song begins by slowly building around strong, fuzzy guitars, allowing the tension to accumulate before Mac’s empowered voice enters with a deep, gravelly intensity. As the arrangement grows heavier, so does her delivery, eventually pushing into an agonized belt that sounds like the pressure finally breaking through the surface.
That emotional volatility is central to ROCK N ROLL ANIMAL. Mac moves between hard rock, blues, classic-rock swagger and glam-pop theatricality without sanding down the rough edges. Even when heartbreak threatens to take over, her songs keep fighting back. The EP’s philosophy is perhaps best summed up by “Animal”: rather than allowing pain to dictate the story, Mac turns revenge, fantasy and sheer enjoyment into another form of liberation. Sometimes the best way out is simply to become louder, wilder and more yourself.
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Review by: Naomi Joan