8/10

*Part of our throwback album review series.

With Open Wide, Inhaler finally sound less concerned with escaping the shadow hanging over them and more focused on becoming the band they were probably always heading towards.

For years, lazy discourse around the Dublin four-piece revolved around lineage rather than music. But by the time Open Wide arrived, the conversation had shifted because the band themselves had shifted. This is a far more confident and sonically adventurous record than many expected.

Where earlier releases leaned heavily into polished indie-rock nostalgia, Open Wide expands outward into something looser, groovier and emotionally more complex. There are still arena-sized hooks throughout the album, but the band sound increasingly interested in texture, atmosphere and tension rather than simply writing festival-ready choruses.

Elijah Hewson gives his strongest vocal performance to date here because he stops trying to overpower songs emotionally. There is more restraint now. More control. The quieter moments across the record land harder because of it.

Tracks like “Your House” and “Again” carry a darker emotional undercurrent beneath the polished production, while other moments lean surprisingly danceable without sounding artificially commercial. Producer Kid Harpoon deserves credit for allowing the band space to experiment without sanding off their identity entirely.

Lyrically, the album also feels more grounded than previous releases. There is less youthful romantic abstraction and more confrontation with uncertainty, exhaustion and modern disconnection. Even politically, you can sense the edges beginning to creep in around the songwriting.

Importantly though, Open Wide still feels ambitious in an old-fashioned way. It wants to be big. It wants live crowds. It wants emotional release. There is no ironic detachment hiding inside the record.

And frankly, that sincerity is refreshing.

At times the album still drifts slightly too close to polished indie-pop safety, particularly in the middle stretch, but when Inhaler lean into risk and atmosphere, they become significantly more interesting than many of their contemporaries.

Open Wide feels like the sound of a band growing out of expectation and into themselves.