King Theta Casts A “Shadow” Of Progressive Nostalgia

With warped tour making it’s last lap and guitar-heavy beats becoming a rarer find, you might not believe me if I told you there’s a song released in the last 2 weeks that feels like it belongs on your old pop-punk playlists.

King Theta, working out of Sacramento CA, is an artist who’s released a little over a dozen tracks over the past 6 months. His first few songs follow the formula many underground artists have used to begin morphing their alt-rock sound into something with an underground appeal, however unlike most artists on soundcloud right now, King Theta is captivating listeners without changing his pop punk sound hardly at all.

The song “Shadow” has a structure vaguely reminiscent of something you’d hear back in the early 2000s, but at the same time has a fresh hook that allows you to feel the nostalgia of the bands you used to love without wondering if you’ve heard the song before. Layered with a trap beat indicative of new age pop punk, the lyrics are hard hitting and truly well written.

“Now I’ve got a shadow
A two dimensional symbol of how shallow
It shows up with the sun to throw all that I’ve done
On the floor, can’t ignore, but move forward”

Built around an incredibly clever analogy, “Shadow” is a song you can’t grasp the full effect of with one listen. Whether you still enjoy listening to classic punk pop or not, what King Theta has done here is not only worth your time to listen once but something you’ll likely find yourself setting on repeat.

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