Issues – Adrian “AJ” Rebollo(Left), Josh Manuel(Middle), & Skyler Acord(Right)
A Farewell to Issues
Issues were and always be a band that sticks in the hearts of many. The sound, the emotional connection, the memories, the innovation. All of this and more has defined the band for years and what people will say about them moving forward.
It’s a damn shame that we’ll likely never see another single, EP, or full album release from Issues. With their 2019 release, “Beautiful Oblivion”, it seemed as though the boys were about to take over their own entirely self-created genre.
The number of unique blends this band put on their already hybridized and ever-changing sound was fascinating to behold. Songs like “Drink About It”, “Flexin”, “Rain”, and Here’s to You” all put an infectious stranglehold on the listener’s ear with a blend of groove, R&B, nu metal, and metalcore.
That stranglehold only gets stronger and stronger as time passes each year with that album, but this applies to all of the band’s music. It has such a nostalgic vibe to it, even for someone like me who didn’t grow up with this band throughout high school. It hits every teenage emotional button you could think of and it’s fucking great
I’ll admit that I knew about Issues for a long time during high school after being introduced to “Her Monologue” by an acquaintance I knew at the time. And now looking back on it, not getting into their full discography until about a year ago was a huge mistake on my part.
Tyler(I’ll get to you later), Michael, AJ, Skyler, Josh, and DJ Scout all put together some of the best metalcore of the past decade and then flipped their sound on its head for two distinct eras of the band for all to see.
I believe the single “Since I Lost You” was a perfect song to end the band’s career and every fan of Issues will be saying that same phrase as time grows further and further from this band’s untimely end in 2020.
Critical Acclaim
Their commercial success speaks for itself, as well as the individual awards that the boys earned over the years. Issues’ self-titled full-length peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 charts, while their next two albums “Headspace” and the previously mentioned “Beautiful Oblivion” charted at #20 and #181 respectively.
Aside from this, they were immediately thrust into the spotlight when they went on Attila’s “Party with the Devil” tour in 2013. That’s big time for a band that just started to get their wings and it showed that they were ahead of schedule in terms of success.
And all this coming off the back of the Woe is Me-Tyler Carter breakup just to initially start a spinoff band without many defined expectations.
Let’s just say that Issues was a masterclass of success even with their bumpy history and ever-changing lineup over the years.
A big reason that the band got such critical acclaim was because of how stale and copycat-like the metalcore genre had become until Issues mixed it up. Many bands at the time and even now tend to overuse breakdowns, keep the same generic song structure, and never evolve past the harsh and clean vocal mix for verses and choruses respectively.
Issues changed the game, not only for the genre at the time but as recently as 2019 when the genre was evolving itself. Issues seemed to always be one step ahead and as I said, basically created their entire genre by themselves. That success and acclaim were no accident.
Tyler Carter Allegations
Well, here we go. I had to bring this up at some point. The thing that ultimately killed Issues. Before I get deep into the weeds of these allegations, let me just say that they should be talked about, no matter what you believe about them. It’s a touchy subject but I am going to take a deep dive into this and get to the bottom of what happened here.
As I mentioned previously, after 2019, Issues was poised for absolute superstardom, if they hadn’t reached that point already. But in August 2020, very serious allegations were made by a (at the time)Twitter User on an account that is now private and inaccessible. These allegations included the grooming of a 14-year-old and sexual assault by Tyler that not only the other band members believed to be true but the majority of fans of not only Issues, but the entire scene as a whole.
These allegations were then addressed by Tyler personally with a statement that essentially admitted to everything without actually doing so. Tyler said, “I most definitely blurred lines and had trouble with understanding influence and power dynamics.” He claimed that he has never physically assaulted anyone, but as is the case, many people believe that he was just beating around the bush on the subject.
Since the height of the allegations has passed, Tyler has went on to create a new band with Attila guitarist Chris Linck called Emerald Royce which has a distinctively unique sound like Issues. As of August 2024, the band has not blown up, but has a fanbase still yearning for Tyler’s incredible vocal range.
Moving Forward
It is a sad end to one of the very influential bands in the metalcore scene of the 2010s that never had to happen. Issues would have almost undoubtedly continued to innovate more than a majority of other metal bands could have even dreamed of.
Despite this, it is important to acknowledge the band’s end and the nostalgia that many growing up in middle and high school might have had in their life at that point. Issues is the kind of band that gives you those memories. Hell, I feel like I’m back in high school when I listen to them.
But we also must acknowledge that we can never go back to the mid-2010s with such an awesome group to accompany our everyday lives.
Issues was a band that defined 2010s metalcore and what could’ve defined a self-created genre of music in the 2020s.
“Since I Lost You” is a perfect song name to end the band’s career.
It’s been four years since we lost that sound and it will be missed immensely.
RIP Issues/2012-2024