The Laura Jane Grace Albums Ranked
I was quite taken in by Against Me! when I was introduced to the punk band in high school. The act’s aggressive energy did not override a certain catchiness and inclination to some pop instincts, especially as the group aged (although I would not call Against Me! pop punk at all). In 2012, Laura Jane Grace, the frontperson of the band, publicly came out as a transgender woman. As a cis teen without much exposure to trans people in any aspect or walk of life, this was actually a formative experience for me in supporting that community, especially since Grace was an early high-profile example of such a transition in the punk space. In the years since, Against Me! has seemed to be less of a priority for her and maybe the other members, at least in regards to full album releases. Now in a hiatus, the group hasn’t put out a record since 2016 (but were touring before COVID hit). But Grace has not been inactive; in the absence of Against Me! work, she has developed a solo career. Quite a while before her run of four albums released in the about six and a half years since 2018, Grace had released a solo EP, HEART BURNS, in 2008 under her birth/deadname. Not included in this ranking is that and her other EPs AT WAR WITH THE SILVERFISH (2021) and GIVE AN INCH (2024), although all of them are quite good. But those four “full-fledged” albums are great representations of how Grace has evolved her style since the Against Me! years.
EDIT 7/20/25: Added ADVENTURE CLUB.
#4 — STAY ALIVE (2020)
Favorite track: “SuperNatural Possession”
Although there has been a bit more of an acoustic, or maybe just “stripped down,” bent to two of Grace’s albums, that doesn’t define every track on them; case in point, STAY ALIVE and “SuperNatural Possession.” Driving with a pounding beat and grinding riffs, the song is complemented by the vocalist’s layered tracks and typifies the kind of music Grace has always made. That being said, some of the more downbeat tracks on STAY ALIVE leave less of a lasting impression. The record, also like all of Grace’s work, has a certain level of compelling angst. But within the body of the solo career so far, the instrumentation on STAY ALIVE, admittedly moving as a tight, sub-30-minute punky record, doesn’t latch on quite as well as the albums that sandwich its release.
#3 — HOLE IN MY HEAD (2024)
Favorite track: “Mercenary”
Even shorter than STAY ALIVE at 25 minutes long (the predecessor was 29), HOLE IN MY HEAD ingeniously blends the short punk songwriting structure with a bit more reined in version of the acoustics of the record just before it. Case in point is “Mercenary,” which in one sense is one of the album’s more “laid back” tracks, but Grace’s voice still rings out with some torturous implications and the drive of the bass and drumbeat anchor the rambling sound of the guitar. HOLE IN MY HEAD, which comes after the biggest gap between records at about three and a half years since STAY ALIVE, does lean into the humor of previous Grace releases, including with Against Me!, the best example of which is “I’m Not a Cop.” And tracks like that also have a decidedly more “punk” sound, even if, again, the album’s vibe as a whole isn’t as overwhelming as that might imply. As a successor to the pretty good STAY ALIVE and the new threshold to whatever’s next for the artist, HOLE IN MY HEAD is an exciting portent for things to come.
#2 — BOUGHT TO ROT (2018)
Favorite track: “Reality Bites”
BOUGHT TO ROT was released under the name Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers, the makeup of which also included Against Me! drummer Atom Willard and that band’s engineer Marc Hudson. With a fuller production sound than the two subsequent records, BOUGHT TO ROT is able to better communicate the anger, energy, and unease that still brings the newer stuff into good territory. Jangling with a brighter sound here and there, as on the track “Reality Bites,” the record also covers a wider array of instincts and emotions. BOUGHT TO ROT serves as an interesting intersection of the artist’s Against Me! work and the evolution into what I somewhat jokingly call the “wiser” punk realm.
#1 — ADVENTURE CLUB (2025)
Favorite track: “New Years Day”
ADVENTURE CLUB is a banger of an album. Grace has really refined her solo sound into an immediately memorable record. I rarely ever listen to an album and am able to sing along within, like, two listens. I could with ADVENTURE CLUB. Also credited as “Laura Jane Grace in The Trauma Tropes,” the record features some pretty prominent backing vocals that really augment a lot of the choruses, especially on “New Years Day.” I looked at the record’s credits and I’m not sure if that voice, heard across ADVENTURE CLUB, is Paris Campbell Grace (Laura Jane’s wife), Chiristina Blioumpa, or Georgia Kollyra. But in looking into that distinction, I did discover there has been some discourse about some…contentious exchanges between the spouses on social media. I have next to zero knowledge about Grace’s personal life and it seems there’s a lot of uncertainty about the story there. But I can say ADVENTURE CLUB is full of witty and poignant lyricism, extremely catchy melodies and riffs, and pulsing energy, making it the best album to bear Grace’s name so far (i.e. “solo” in some form).
