Kinda Hard

Bilmuri’s Kinda Hard is a 2026 album from Johnny Franck’s genre-blurring project, following 2024’s American Motor Sports and continuing his mix of post-hardcore, metalcore, pop-punk, country twang, glossy hooks, and meme-heavy irreverence (Rock Sound, Sputnikmusic). The record opens with a crushing, chaotic title track before pivoting into brighter pop-punk territory on songs like “TWICE,” setting up an album that repeatedly contrasts heavy riffs and breakdowns with sunny, sing-along choruses. Its emotional core leans toward breakup frustration, regret, nostalgia, and acceptance, while the sound adds steel guitar, acoustic textures, saxophone touches, 808s, and big arena-ready melodies to Bilmuri’s raucous rock foundation (Apple Music, Sputnikmusic).

As an album, Kinda Hard seems less like a reinvention than a consolidation of the Bilmuri formula: absurd, sincere, hooky, and intentionally hard to categorize. Reviewers highlight tracks such as “ROCK BOTTOM,” “BACK, THEN,” and “HONEST” as especially strong examples of Franck’s melodic instincts, though some criticism focuses on the album’s familiarity, one-note breakup writing, and less adventurous approach compared with earlier releases. Overall, it is a loud, polished, emotionally bruised, and often ridiculous record that thrives on the tension between heavy scene-kid catharsis and country-pop accessibility (Kerrang!, Out of Rage).