Amyl and the Sniffers Cartoon Darkness

Critic's Take

Amyl and the Sniffers's Cartoon Darkness is presented as a raucous, roller-coaster record that peaks with the best tracks - “Jerkin’”, “Tiny Bikini” and “U Should Not Be Doing That”. The reviewer praises the album's raw energy and quick-paced chord progressions while noting that those high points feel like classic punk anthems updated with finesse. At the same time, slower detours like “Big Dreams” and “Bailing On Me” expose the limits of their attempts to innovate, so the best songs stand out for keeping the band's furious momentum intact. This makes clear answers to queries like "best songs on Cartoon Darkness" and "best tracks on Cartoon Darkness" point back to the opener and the lead single as the record's real highlights.

Key Points

• The best song(s) are the frenetic, anthem-like tracks like "Jerkin'" and the lead single, which keep the band's momentum and feel transcendent.
• The album's core strengths are raw energy, quick-paced chord progressions, and a balance of chaos and fun, tempered by uneven experiments.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl And The Sniffers's Cartoon Darkness finds its best songs in sharp, immediate bursts of punk clarity - “Chewing Gum” and “Big Dreams” stand out for their fiery hooks and thematic focus. The record repeatedly lands hits like “Jerkin” and “Pigs” where Amy Taylor's jubilant, vicious vocals cut through crunchy riffs, serving the album's critique of purposeless consumption. There's also playful venom in “Tiny Bikini”, which pairs derisive backup vocals with foreground declarations, making it one of the more memorable tracks. Overall, the album's strengths are its raucous energy and sharpened songwriting that let these best tracks double as its clearest statements.

Key Points

• The best song(s) marry fiery hooks with thematic clarity, particularly “Chewing Gum” and “Big Dreams”.
• The album's core strengths are raucous punk energy, sharpened songwriting, and focused social critique.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl and the Sniffers arrive on Cartoon Darkness bristling and defensive, yet the record’s best songs prove the band can mix melody with menace. On the bruising opener “Jerkin’” and the taut love-by-razor-wire “Chewing Gum” Taylor spits venom with newfound melodic confidence, while “Doing in Me Head” shows the group leveling up with a stomping pre-chorus and a bridge that lands. These best tracks on Cartoon Darkness make clear why the band’s experimental flourishes - sax, jaw harp, vocoder - are exciting additions rather than distractions. The result is an album that often feels exhausted by paranoia, but still delivers its most convincing moments when it leans into melody and weirdness.

Key Points

• “Chewing Gum” is the best song because it pairs sweet, simple riffing with an explosive, face-melting guitar climax.
• The album’s core strengths are its melding of newfound melodic sophistication with aggressive pub-rock roots and daring experimental touches.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl and the Sniffers land somewhere between snarling fury and cheeky, punchy commentary on Cartoon Darkness, and the best songs - notably “U Should Not Be Doing That” and “It’s Mine” - do the heavy lifting. The reviewer revels in Amy Taylor's merciless vocal delivery, from bratty sing-song on “Tiny Bikini” to the Chrissy Amphlett-style husk that propels “Big Dreams”. She praises the strutting, throbbing anthem “U Should Not Be Doing That” as the standout, while calling “It’s Mine” a savage, bristling thrill channeling a young Ozzy. The album is framed as both catharsis and rallying cry, equal parts garage punk heat and unexpectedly melodic, introspective detours.

Key Points

• The best song is “U Should Not Be Doing That” because the reviewer calls it the standout and highlights its strutting, vitriolic anthem quality.
• The album's core strengths are Amy Taylor's versatile, confrontational vocals and a mix of garage punk aggression with occasional melodic, introspective moments.

Themes

Critic's Take

Ask singer Amy Taylor about Cartoon Darkness and the review’s thrust is plain: the best tracks are the ones that let Taylor spit and howl, notably “Jerkin’” and “Motorbike Song”. Beaumont relishes the record’s bursts of crushing speed-punk and pounding buzzrock, arguing that those visceral cuts - the ones about sex, bikes and defiant bikinis - are the best songs on Cartoon Darkness. He also points to the darker, more widescreen pieces like “Big Dreams” and “U Should Not Be Doing That” as essential counterpoints that deepen the album.

Key Points

• The best song(s) are the visceral, sex-and-confrontation cuts like "Jerkin'" that showcase Taylor's yelping intensity.
• The album’s core strengths are its relentless punk energy and moments of darker, country-noir drama that add depth.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl and the Sniffers's Cartoon Darkness is, in Ged Babey's electric prose, their most vital record yet, with songs like “Jerkin'” and “Motorbike Song” standing out as career-defining moments. Babey praises the album's blunt, vicious glee and lyrical candour while celebrating the three ballads - including “Big Dreams” - as its emotional and commercial heart. The review frames the best tracks on Cartoon Darkness as both punk anthems and unexpected anthems of feeling, arguing they bridge underground cred and mainstream reach with relentless energy.

Key Points

• The best song, notably “Jerkin'”, is lauded for its punk humour, empowerment and cross-generational appeal.
• The album's core strengths are raw energy, lyrical bluntness, and a surprising emotional depth across three ballads that broaden their reach.

Themes

Critic's Take

There is a lampooning smirk throughout Cartoon Darkness, and the best tracks - namely “Jerkin'”, “Motorbike Song” and “Me And The Girls” - exemplify that brash, fiery punch. Loftin revels in Amy Taylor’s ire, praising the Stooges-channeling kick of “Jerkin'” and the unapologetic frenzied horniness of “Motorbike Song”. He also flags the closing “Me And The Girls” as a resounding Fuck You finale that saves the record. The review balances that praise with noting quieter moments like “Bailing On Me”, which reveal holes in Taylor’s armour and a more forlorn side.

Key Points

• The best song is the opener “Jerkin'” because its Stooges-channeling kick and fiery flippancy set the album’s defiant tone.
• The album’s core strengths are its unbridled punk energy, Amy Taylor’s confrontational voice, and moments of unexpected vulnerability.

Themes

Critic's Take

There is something jolting about Cartoon Darkness, and Alexis Petridis hears it most clearly on tracks like “Bailing On Me” and “Big Dreams” - songs that trade pure ragers for melodic ambition. Petridis writes with a wry, observational tone, noting how the band’s pub-punk instincts remain intact even as they flirt with new textures, from the acoustic of “Bailing On Me” to the moody arpeggios of “Big Dreams”. He frames the best tracks as evidence the band are aware of their limits and intent on pushing them without losing the snarling core that made them distinctive. The result is an album whose best songs balance tunefulness and menace, making clear what the best tracks on Cartoon Darkness actually are.

Key Points

• The best song, "Bailing On Me", is best because its unexpected acoustic element and melodic strength show new emotional range.
• The album’s core strength is balancing the band’s raw pub-punk energy with increased melodic ambition and self-aware lyrics about fame.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl And The Sniffers keep their feral punch on Cartoon Darkness while adding emotional depth, and the best songs - “Jerkin’”, “Big Dreams” and “Bailing On Me” - show that shift. Pat Gilbert’s voice is admirably frank, noting how producer Nick Launay sharpens the band so their confrontational lyrics land harder and their slow songs ache more. The record still revels in Amy Taylor’s bolshy, profane diaries, yet it is the quieter moments that reveal real growth. Overall, the album balances shrill punk immediacy with newly found nuance, making those highlighted tracks the clearest examples of its success.

Key Points

• Big Dreams is the best song because its sorrowful motif and guitars convert punk into poignant emotion.
• The album's core strength is combining confrontational punk energy with sharper production and newfound emotional nuance.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl and the Sniffers sound unrepentant and triumphant on Cartoon Darkness, and the review makes clear the best tracks are those that lean into attitude - notably “Jerkin'” - where Amy Taylor's Wendy-O-Williams-does-Iggy-Pop sneer lands hardest. The write-up revels in profanity and crunching riffs as proof the band have kept their punk credentials thrillingly intact, so anyone asking "best tracks on Cartoon Darkness" should start with the opener and other songs that match its effing-and-riffing momentum. The tone is exuberant and extrovert, insisting this immense-sounding record is primed to catapult them to rock's very top.

Key Points

• The best song is the opener “Jerkin'” because it condenses the album's sneer, profanity and crunching riff into a definitive statement.
• The album's core strength is its sustained punk attitude and huge, classic-rock-inflected sound that promises mainstream lift-off.

Themes

Critic's Take

In her vivid, admiring voice Lucy Harbron makes it clear that Amyl and the Sniffers have delivered on Cartoon Darkness by balancing fury and fun, with tracks like “U Should Not Be Doing That” and “Me and the Girls” standing out as irresistible high points. She praises the way the band keeps punk power intact while stretching into more cinematic and refined rock on songs such as “Big Dreams”, and notes that crowd-moving stompers like “Jerkin'” and “Doing In Me Head” still get blood pumping. The review reads as both celebration and close reading, arguing that the best tracks mix empowerment, joy and raft of brilliant riffs in a way that cements the album among the band’s finest.

Key Points

• The best song, "U Should Not Be Doing That", is lauded as a flawless, catchy anthem that perfectly balances rage and joy.
• The album’s core strengths are energetic punk delivery, feminist empowerment themes, and adventurous expansion into cinematic and rock textures.

Themes

Critic's Take

Amyl and the Sniffers sound like they are hurtling down the motorway on a stolen motorbike on Cartoon Darkness, and the best songs - “U Should Not Be Doing That”, “Me and the Girls” and “Tiny Bikini” - capture that full-throttle, bratty joy. Emilie Roberts lauds opener “Jerkin’” as a full-on sonic assault and singles out the closing “Me and the Girls” as the highlight, a no-holds-barred celebration of being a woman. The review balances praise for stompers and shouty vocals with a note that the record sometimes threatens repetition, but the back half rescues the album with melodic and brattier moments.

Key Points

• Me and the Girls is best for its triumphant, no-holds-barred celebration of womanhood and angry joy.
• The album's core strengths are raw punk energy, shouty vocals, and bratty yet melodic songwriting that rewards the back half.

Critic's Take

In Jazz Hodge’s electrified voice, Amyl and the Sniffers deliver a bruising, celebratory record with Cartoon Darkness anchored by urgent standouts like “Jerkin'” and “Me and The Girls”. Hodge frames the best songs as manifesto tracks of sexual liberation and self-worth, praising how “It’s Mine” snarls with hardcore bile while “U Should Not Be Doing That” grooves glamorously. The reviewer’s tone is visceral and exultant, insisting these best tracks make Cartoon Darkness feel like the most important rock moment of the year. Read as a coherent journey, the album’s best songs push you to reject conformity and find your voice, all in that unapologetic Amyl and the Sniffers style.

Key Points

• The best song(s) like "Jerkin'" combine confrontational lyrics with liberation themes to set the album’s tone.
• The album’s core strengths are raw confrontational energy, thematic consistency around self-worth and rebellion, and genre-blending musicality.

Themes