Soon To Be — Boy Among Men
Soon To Be — Boy Among Men (Album Review)
Written By: Dan Eachus
Release Date: June 13, 2025
Genre: Electronic / Rap / Rock
Introduction
Soon To Be — Boy Among Men
Released: 2025 via Boy Among Men (self‑release)
Boy Among Men, the multifaceted project led by a drummer‑producer‑rapper, delivers a striking debut album that collapses genre boundaries—melding the visceral power of rock, the narrative punch of rap, and the daring texture of experimental electronic music. On Soon To Be, every instrument, rhythm, and lyric is crafted and arranged with precision, creating a sound that’s massive yet intimate, raw yet vulnerable. Soon To Be is raw and unapologetic—a visceral plunge into the darkest corners of jealousy, aggression, and mistrust. Boy Among Men uses his multifaceted talents—drums, rap, guitar, electronics—to bring an intense, confessional, and often unsettling emotional landscape to life. Throughout the album’s nine tracks, explicit language erupts not for shock, but as fuel and confession, revealing the churning turbulence beneath each beat.
1. “Above Her, Below Me” (3:14)
Opening the album with simmering tension, live drums crash against glitch‑tinged beats and tremolo piano chords. . As a thrusting, gripping opener, it sets the tone for the emotional excavation to come.
2. “The Pull” (2:15)
At under two-and-a-half minutes, “The Pull” is a compact whirlwind. The brevity mirrors its theme: an irresistible gravitational force, a yearning or vice that grips and won’t let go. There’s urgency in both the rhythm and the lyrical repetition, perfectly capturing the feeling of wrestling with something all‑consuming.
3. “Brick Wall Mirror” (4:23)
One of the album’s most cinematic tracks, “Brick Wall Mirror” opens with classical arpeggios before colliding with distorted synth and bass-heavy percussion. As the central track, it delivers on both emotional depth and textural complexity.
4. “Lost in His Reflection” (3:18)
Here, the album turns inward. Vocal delivery is intimate—almost confessional—as Boy Among Men examines identity, projection, and the risk of losing oneself while imitating someone else.
5. “Fly on the Wall” (4:28)
This track bursts out with pulsating basslines and a rock‑rap hybrid flow.
6. “Eyes Wide Open” (4:21)
A standout single, “Eyes Wide Open” leans into the album’s experimental-electronic soul. The message is defiant: confronting reality with clarity despite confusion. Vocal delivery shifts between rap verses—tight, rhythmic—and an anthemic sung hook.
7. “Temporary Love” (3:08)
“Temporary Love” is a lament wrapped in melodic minor chords, combining guitar and live drums with synthetic ambience. It’s about fleeting the romance, emotional risk, and the ache of knowing time is over.
8. “Just Like You” (7:00)
At seven minutes, this track is a sprawling centerpiece that explores generational tension. Its length allows for dynamic shifts: verse‑rap sections, jam‑like instrumental grooves, an ambient breakdown, and finally a cathartic solo. It is the record’s emotional apex.
9. “Come Be Back” (14:05)
The album’s 14‑minute finale expands into experimental terrain. It’s structured in movements—starting with piano and electronic pulses, transitioning through repetitive drum-and-synth motifs, culminating in a massive crescendo that layers distorted guitar, dense bass, and spoken‑word refrains.
Key Emotional and Aesthetic Insights
Soon To Be thrives on contrasts: live drums crash with precise electronic beats; classical guitar dissolves into distortion; melodic confession flips to vitriolic outbursts. This tension mirrors the emotional core: love twisted by mistrust, loyalty corrupted by jealousy.
The repeated explicit language fuels authenticity, not shock value. Each “f***ing” is a verbal punch—sometimes spewed in rage, other times as a broken whisper, revealing emotional fractures.
Thematically, the album traces jealousy as a force—gravitational, destructive, inescapable. Aggression isn’t just outburst; it’s containment. Distrust isn’t a moment of doubt—it’s an existential stance. The lyrics rip layers off universal emotions: fear of losing, of being seen, of being shaped by another’s flaws.
Soon To Be explores the tension between maturity and innocence, longing and identity, connection and solitude. Sonically, Boy Among Men blends live drums with electronic beats, weaving together dissonant synths, piano, classical guitar, and heavy distortion over pulsating bass—a combination as unpredictable as the emotions it maps.
The emotional core revolves around self‑discovery, examining who we are, who we once were, and who we’re becoming. There’s a dialectic throughout—between rap’s intimate storytelling and rock’s visceral energy; between electronic glitch and acoustic warmth. The result is deeply human: chaotic at times, triumphant at others, but always anchored by authenticity.
Creative Process & Artistic Vision
Boy Among Men writes, records, produces, mixes, and masters the album himself—his fingerprints are on every aspect. That holistic control shines through: Soon To Be feels unified, intentional, and deeply personal. It’s an album you can feel the artist living.
Drawing from rock, rap, and electronic music, Boy Among Men breaks stylistic molds without losing emotional clarity. There’s a theatricality to the production—dramatic peaks, storytelling bridges—which complements the lyrical introspection perfectly. Despite heavy textures, the melodies are memorable, and the narratives resonate long after the record ends.
Conclusion
Soon To Be is a bold, brave debut that defies easy classification. Boy Among Men has crafted a potent listening experience—14 minutes to 2 minutes, acoustic quiet to distorted storm, inward reflection to anthemic release. The album is an exploration of growth, memory, heartbreak, and renewal, framed in a soundscape as ambitious as it is visceral.
For listeners drawn to The Mars Volta’s experimental rock, Kendrick Lamar’s emotive narrative, or electronic boundary‑pushers like Arca, Soon To Be offers a compelling bridge. At once massive and intimate, complex yet direct, it stakes its claim as a powerful debut from an artist unafraid to lay himself bare.
Soon To Be is not easy listening, but it’s essential: an 81-minute descent into jealousy, aggression, and shattered trust. Boy Among Men pushes emotional honesty to its limit—explicit to disturb, melody to heal, energy to survive.
For listeners drawn to unfiltered catharsis, this debut sits alongside the raw vulnerability of JPEGMAFIA, the emotional despair of early Linkin Park, and the experimental bravado of Arca. It’s a visceral, brutal, and compelling debut that confronts the ugliest parts of human emotion—and dares to live through them.
Soon To Be lingers long after the last chord fades—because it doesn’t just share pain; it feathers it with truth. Soon To Be will stay with you long after it ends—it’s not just an album, but a journey into the heart of becoming.
