Is punk rock dead? Whatever anyone’s answer may be, Amyl and the Sniffers don’t care either way.

To solidify their position in the contemporary punk-rock landscape, Amyl and the Sniffers’ third full-length album, Cartoon Darkness, released Oct. 25, 2024, echoes the genre’s kick-you-in-the-face political urging. However, it also reflects their own unique sound that continues the animated noise and complex lyricism of their previous works.

The Australian band’s music also falls under the country’s own pub-rock genre, one that arose in the 1970s and clearly has shaped the style today. With a song like “Doing In Me Head,” the seventh on Cartoon Darkness, one can just imagine themself in a crowded, hot and sticky venue. The head-bangable instrumentals and cutting vocals puts the listener right in that scene.

Third track “Tiny Bikini” seems to call to the spirit of Bikini Kill’s satirical sound, mimicking a infantile girl voice with intensely, yet maybe subtle politically, personal lyrics.

Following is “Big Dreams,” one of the few slow songs in the band’s discography and thus emphasizes itself. Its heavy, distortive sound is almost shoegazey until it ramps up to the end in a more classic rock feel.

The first single that Amyl and the Sniffers released for Cartoon Darkness was “U Should Not Be Doing That,” track 10 on the album. Its strong guitar bounces the listener along with lyrics that call for self-worth in the music entertainment industry amid hateful comments.

Another song that stands out is the final one, “Me and The Girls,” another track with such a bouncy sound in its verses, though their vocals maintain the punk yell-singing that frontwoman Amy Taylor seems to have mastered. When it comes to the chorus, a poppiness creeps in, with some surprising electronic backing vocals added.

Taylor said in a press statement that this album is about many contemporary issues, including the climate crisis, war, A.I. and more.

“Cartoon Darkness is diving headfirst into the unknown, into this looming sketch of the future that feels terrible but doesn’t even exist yet. A childlike darkness. I don’t want to meet the devil half-way and mourn what we have right now. The future is cartoon, the prescription is dark, but it’s novelty. It’s just a joke. It’s fun,” Taylor said.