Weekly Roundup: April 1st
Featuring The Hope Conspiracy, Webbed Wing, Foreign Hands, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Webbed Wing – “Further”
Last year, Philly rockers Webbed Wing dropped their surprise Right After I Smoke This… EP. I loved that release, mainly because it was a brilliant showcase of the band’s late 90s alt-rock meets grunge template. Now, the Pennsylvanian trio are following up with a new LP titled Vol. III, due for release through producer Will Yip’s Memory Music label on July 12th. The band includes Superheaven’s Taylor Madison on vocals and guitar and Jake Clarke on drums (also of Clever Hour), with Mike Paulshock on bass. This one’s for fans of big riffs and hummable, ear-worm melodies. Which, realistically, should be everyone. Right? Watch the video for “Further” below:
Hardik – Frihet
Another new band on my radar this week, and this one comes courtesy of a shoutout from No Echo founder and editor Carlos Ramirez. Hardik hail from Tasikmalaya, Indonesia, and they play a style of hardcore that’s self-described as:
“Keepin' that '80s rock band sound alive but adding a dash of modern flavour. [Frontwoman Nahla] Nahla's vocals [are] sharp as a tack, adding some real punch to certain lyrics. [she’s] all about the vibes, keeping it fresh and never dull. Plus, we’re mixing in bits from all over, exploring with our sound.”
The band’s new five-track EP Frihet is out now through Greedy Dust Records, and it’s heavy, trippy and cool as fuck. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Schedule 1 – “Drifting”
I’m super pumped for the debut LP from British Columbia outfit Schedule 1. These guys offer up a kind of frigid post-punk meets oi! hybrid, which makes sense, given that I came across them thanks to fellow Canadian punks Home Front. Their upcoming full-length Crucible is out on April 10th via Council Records (North America) and Mendeku Diskak (Europe). According to vocalist Grant, their latest single, “Drifting,” is about:
“After an experience of loss, one may resist the new reality and move aimlessly, without purpose, trying to salvage fragments of the past. When this happens to you, it can feel like you are only “drifting through a wasteland”. The song describes personal grief and the collapse of a valuable creative culture due to gentrification.”
Listen to “Drifting” here.
Foreign Hands – What’s Left Unsaid
I’m very excited to finally talk about one of my most anticipated records of the year: the debut full-length album from metalcore juggernaut Foreign Hands—this one’s been a long-time coming. The band released their Bleed The Dream EP in early 2022, followed by their Sharptone debut two-track single, Lucid Noise, and previous single, 2023’s “Conditioned for a Head-On Collision” single. Their LP is titled What’s Left Unsaid, is due out June 21st, and was produced by Will Putney (Knocked Loose, Vein.fm), with their hardcore-centric approach to early 2000s metalcore sound in mind. As the band states:
“What’s Left Unsaid feels like a culmination of everything we’ve done so far. There are lyrical and musical callbacks to all of our old material, as well as new elements we’ve never incorporated into our sound before. Working with Will helped us take these songs to the next level, and we’re all really proud of how they came out.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Upsetter – “Maleny Drive”
I’ve got an exclusive premiere track this week from Aussie doomgazers Upsetter. The Brisbane/Meanjin duo (of Jasper Webb and Emily Hopley) dropped their debut EP last year, and they’re following that up with a new single titled “Maleny Drive”. This one comes out on April 3rd, ahead of the band’s debut tour alongside Stepson and Heists. The single was produced by Windwaker’s Chris Lalic (The Last Martyr, Terra) and is a taste of new songs to come—it also might be the heaviest the band have released to date. Statement from Hopley on the track’s deeply personal lyrical focus:
“I have been waiting a while for the right moment to write about some deeply personal events in my life. ‘Maleny Drive’ felt like it had the right spirit, Jasper and (Chris) Lalic felt like the right people to express it to/with, and it all kind of just fell into place. ‘Maleny Drive’ is a truth-telling of my lived experience with child sexual abuse. I not only get to have my uncensored, rageful and cathartic F*CK YOU to the man that stole my childhood and left me broken for a long time; but to hopefully give other people like me a chance to have their F*CK YOU and know they aren’t alone in this twisted ‘reality’.”
You can listen to the track on the most recent episode of The Pitch pod here (or like, you know, don’t).
Graywave – Dancing in the Dust
Birmingham shoegazers Graywave have a new EP coming up. This one’s titled Dancing in the Dust, and it’s set for release through the good folks over at Church Road Records on May 31st. The EP includes four brand-new tracks as well as previous singles “Blur Into One” and “Cycle”. If you’re a fan of swirling textures, fuzzed-out riffs, and haunting vocals, they’re definitely a group to check out. Here’s a statement from Graywave’s Jess Webberley:
“Dancing in the Dust aims to capture the feeling of yearning for something that is out of reach; it’s about longing for a memory that will never repeat. When writing these songs, I was heavily focussed on the way that time continues to move along without pausing for a breath and the bittersweet feeling that realisation evokes.”
Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
The Hope Conspiracy – “Those Who Gave Us Yesterday”
Hardcore veterans The Hope Conspiracy roared back to life last year with the release of their Confusion/Chaos/Misery EP—it was easily one of my favourite EP releases of 2023. They’re now taking that momentum and channelling it into their long-awaited new full-length album, Tools of Oppression / Rule by Deception, which will drop on May 31st from Deathwish Inc. The record was engineered by Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks at God City Studios and is billed as a vehicle for:
“True sonic violence aimed at political division, economic manipulation, war profiteering, media propaganda and other vile forms of global oppression. An ominous soundtrack to the steady decline of our modern age.”
Watch the video for “Those Who Gave Us Yesterday” below:
Balmora & Since My Beloved – Six Pacts Etched in Blood
Last up for MOSH PITHY this week is a huge metalcore collab: a new split release titled Six Pacts Etched In Blood, featuring heavy hitters Balmora & Since My Beloved. This is six tracks of crushing metalcore revivalism in the vein of Undying, If Hope Dies and Morning Again, thanks to label collective Ephyra, who’ve been killing it lately with releases from up-and-comers like Cauldron, xClocktowerx, So Below, xNomadx, Bulletsbetweentongues, In 2 Again, and countless more–their whole catalogue rocks. Stream the split in full here (Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2024-7 HITS playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
NØ MAN – Glitter and Spit
“Glitter and Spit is about not letting someone dehumanize you by distorting your reality to fit their fantasy.” That’s Maha Shami, the front person for Washington D.C.’s NØ MAN, who recently dropped their phenomenal third full-length LP through Iodine Recordings. The album solidifies the quartet’s furious take on modern hardcore into a powerful statement of intent for Shami as both a woman and the daughter of Palestinian refugees.
“Recently, I’ve been more mindful of the importance of radical love, both in my personal relationships at the community level,” Shami reflects in a recent interview with Kim Kelly for Hell World. “Meaning, how do we love one another fully without boundaries or strings attached? Conditional treatment doesn’t really show up until you’ve poked the bear and you’re confronting the status quo. It happens to women in punk protecting their scenes and calling out abusers. It’s happening now when folks preach equality and remain silently complicit during a genocide.”
On the incendiary “Can’t Kill Us All,” it’s clear that Shami’s perspective on our current moment is both vitriolic and vital. And yet, for all her rage and justified anger, Shami allows a glimmer of optimism to shine through. “The younger generation is not afraid, and their eyes are open… I feel like something happened where people are able to connect systems of oppression with an intersectional lens, and I think more broadly, that the youth are going to be the ones to put us in a better place.”
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
J.T. Cavey from progressive metalcore titans ERRA joined The Pitch pod last week for an in-person chat recorded backstage during their Melbourne show on Northlane’s recent Australian tour. We talk about drawing creative influence from hip-hop flow and menacing film soundtracks, working with producer Dan Braunstein, the surprise success of their explosive Muse cover, and the lessons learned during the recording of their forthcoming sixth LP, Cure (out April 5th through UNFD). Check it out below: