Written by Caleigh May
Militarie Gun is an LA alternative rock band that literally JUST formed in 2020 and they have already released two full length albums in just 5 years. They work under the label Loma Vista, who produced for Soundgarden, Korn, and Marylin Manson. “God Save the Gun” is their newest album released on October 17,
2025. Following their first album release in 2023 “life under the gun.”
Militarie Gun’s new album is an addition that shows the formation of the new wave of rock recently. While it’s generally sorted into the category of post-hardcore I do not think that myself. When I think of post hardcore; Underoath, Saosin and A Day To Remember come to mind. This Album to me takes on a more indie-punk stance, which strays a little away from their first album “Life Under the Gun” released in 2020, which did follow more of an alternative rock feel. The band has never considered themselves hardcore though, taking inspiration from bands like third eye blind and modest mouse (two very non-hardcore bands).
God Save the Gun’s first track is called ‘B A D I D E A,’ in this song you hear heavy bass lines and a kind of static overlapping Ian Shelton’s lead vocals . The song has a catchy repeating verse, “didn’t, didn’t know” and you can’t help but scream at the top of your lungs with him and headbang a little bit. The album’s main inspiration is Shelton’s experience in addiction and rehabilitation. ‘W ake Up and Smile’ the 10th track, goes along with the 11th track ‘Laugh at Me,’ they parallel each other. ‘Laugh at Me’ is a cheerful sound, talking about a new relationship, while this relationship makes the narrator happy it’s also described as ‘being burnt alive.’ On the other hand ‘W ake Up and Smile’ is about the utter opposite, the narrator has a tone of jealousy and hatred for a specific person. The narrator is paranoid and is uncertain of anything that might happen to him in the future. God Save the Gun includes interludes, voice recordings and references to other songs. ‘pt.II’ is an interlude and the ending part is ‘honestly, things have not been great, honestly i’ ve been’ and then it immediately goes into ‘B A D I D E A,’ it really sounds so cool! ‘I W ont Murder your Friend’ is one of the songs that contains a voice recording, the song’s premise is describing a sort of self murder – and talk about the romantic notions of self harming. The voice recording is thoughtfully put into this song and adds a whole new layer of depth. My favorite song on the album is “God Owes Me Money,” it’s the middle ground of the whole album. There is a perfect blend of heavy/sharp and melodic vocals from Shelton, but the best part of this song to me is Stalsworth’s drumming. During the chorus the drumming is paired with a wistful keyboard, which is very unusual in a rock album, but the combination goes so well with Shelton belting “The Things you’ll never remember / I’ll never get to forget” it seriously gets stuck in your head.
Militarie Gun is a touring machine, they have played 496 shows in just 5 years, with only 2 full albums, I mean that’s crazy! They played shows at both Riot fest and Outbreak fest last year and toured with people like Knocked Loose and Joyce Manor. Maybe one day they will come to Fayetteville (unfortunately very unlikely). But they are currently on tour with Joyce Manor and T een Mortgage in fact and they have been on this tour since the beginning of 2024.
God Save the Gun in my opinion, doesn’t differ too much from Militarie Gun’s first album but this is not a complaint in any way. When you’re good at something and you enjoy it, stick with it! Shelton’s voice to me has always sounded like a mix of Kurt Cobain and Billie Joe Armstrong and combining that with a turnstile sound creates a very unique sound in the rock genre, hopefully once y’all listen I won’t sound crazy. For being such a new band, God Save the Gun is so incredible! I mean you can just hear the passion in Shelton’s voice and the incredible band, they both really work hand in hand and create a perfect sound.