Photo by Jonathan Weiner

You don’t need to focus on heavy lifting in order to see those gains. Though Citizen have leaned up in their post-hardcore aggression with each subsequent release, “Hyper Trophy” — the second single from the Midwestern rockers’ new album, Calling the Dogs — is an exercise in how a “hardcore adjacent” band can still pump equal amounts of muscularity into their art even by perfecting their form. Regardless, vocalist Mat Karekes doesn’t deny himself permission to chew out its tough inner monologues on individual pursuits and going to failure as being its own kind of success, putting each verse into a similar frame of hulking up against the listen’s post-punk drive when necessary, akin to Angel Du$t’s Justice Tripp or Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton finding work-arounds to their own versions of heavy pop. At this volume and intensity, Citizen continue seeing the hard work pay off.

Directed by: Mason Mercer

Citizen’s Calling the Dogs will be released October 6th on Run for Cover Records.