MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Red Fang – “Arrows”
Oregonian fuzzlords Red Fang are back with their first album in four years. The title track from the upcoming record (out June 4th through Relapse Records), “Arrows” features the band’s trademark lumbering, distorted riffage, soaring vocal melodies, and crunchy grooves. Also, the music video is a total riot, so suss it out below:
Moon Coven – Slumber Wood
Speaking of crunchy grooves, Swedish psych outfit Moon Coven take that mission statement and push it to doom-laden extremes. If you like a little occult mysticism with your monotone incantations, then the quartet’s new record, the evocatively titled Slumber Wood (out May 7th through Ripple Music), should be right up your alley. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Onslow – “Let Me Rust”
Side projects are dime a dozen in alternative music, but this newest one from the heart of Western Australia is super exciting. Featuring Sean Harmanis (Make Them Suffer) and Scott Kay (Voyager, Statues), Onslow (named after a small town in the Pilbara region) offer up a pulsing mix of 90s and 00s sounds. Think Hum meets The Smashing Pumpkins—with a modern twist—and you’d be close. Stream the group’s debut single “Let Me Rust” here.
Rejoice – Damnation No Longer Hurts
Ohio has been home to many metallic hardcore mainstays, including early crossover outfits like Integrity and Ringworm, and it seems that newcomers Rejoice are determined to proudly follow in those hallowed footsteps. On Damnation No Longer Hurts, the young quartet deliver caustic vocals, grinding rhythms, and abrasive guitar lines destined for mosh pits and punctured eardrums. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Free Throw – “Cloud Sick”
As fellow Substacker Miranda Reinert of something old said in her recent post on scene taxonomy and ‘the Death of the Emo Revival’:
There are tons of bands that came on the scene a couple years either too late or too early to really hit a hype sweet spot.
For me, Free Throw are one such band: catchy, twinkly, mathy, and bubbling with bright energy. Their new album, Piecing It Together (out June 25th through Triple Crown Records), is already shaping up to be their best effort yet. Stream the new single “Cloud Sick” here.
Outlander – Sundowning / Unconditional
Recent Church Road Records signees Outlander are slowcore fanatics who specialise in dense, winding passages of richly layered shoegaze and doom. The Birmingham-based quartet will drop their upcoming EP, Sundowning / Unconditional on June 25th, and by all accounts, it’s going to be a definite crowd-pleaser for fans of Slowdive, Nothing, and Holy Fawn. Stream the EP pre-release single here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Polaris – “Vagabond”
Polaris, Australia’s current favourite sons of metalcore, have taken it upon themselves to drop a wild new video for “Vagabond,” taken from their 2020 album, The Death of Me. Now, while I wasn’t the biggest fan of that record, I cannot deny that the track is one hell of a catchy tune, and the Mad Max-aping video sure makes it look the Sydney-siders had a fun time with it. Watch below:
Yautja – The Lurch
Look, I didn’t know what a Yautja was either. But, Google is your friend (whether you like it or not), and so I’m now informed that a Yautja is both a Nashville underground hardcore trio and the race of aliens to which The Predator belongs. So yeah, facts are cool. With the trio’s members having spent time in diverse acts like Thou, Coliseum, and Mutilation Rites, expect some crazy and dissonant hardcore with an eerie and forsaken sense of melody. Stream pre-release singles from The Lurch (out May 21th through Relapse Records) here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Crust – Stoic
I don’t know what it is exactly, but there must be something lurking in the frigid permafrosts of Mother Russia. Despite their affinity for shirtless, authoritarian strongmen, some of the most eclectic and engaging heavy music I’ve come across in the last half-decade has emerged from either side of the Urals. Whether it be the intricate, Lovecraftian lore of Kadath (2016) from Siberian five-piece Ultar, or the post-metal odyssey of Yarost’ I Proshchenie (2021) from Saint Petersburg vandals WOWOD, I can now comfortably add Crust to that list.
While I was deep in the onset pandemic-induced depression of 2020, the Russian trio dropped the gargantuan ...and a Dirge Becomes an Anthem, an album almost tailor-made for how I felt at the time. It’s an unfathomably bleak record but in a thrilling way, something that only the unholy product of black metal and doom and sludge could evoke. On Stoic, their follow-up LP, the band continues this Katabatic journey in earnest.
The Stoics of the Greek philosophical tradition were believers in the doctrine of eudaimonia, wherein human flourishing stems from cultivating a life in pursuit of self-discipline, resolve, fortitude, and moral courage. Sure, the world might indeed be fucked now, but one should focus on the elements of life that are fully in one’s control, taking solace in the small victories that yield personal happiness and growth. Through eight, grim passages of lumbering, wretched darkness, Crust show that humanity’s inner light cannot—will not—be extinguished:
Many a man walk by a dark scary cave and turn away unable to endure its profound depth, perilous traps and pitfalls. But a stoic enters it, as at the end of the cave burns a torch of truth and wisdom. And only breaking through a myriad of misfortunes lurking there in the darkness, can he reach that torch. Are you a stoic? Will you come in?
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
Listen to all these tracks on the TPD April playlist, updated each week.