Weekly Roundup: August 21st
Featuring ERRA, Post Heaven, END, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
ERRA – “Pale Iris”
Progressive metalcore unit ERRA have returned with their first new material in 12 months. The group’s latest single is an urgent banger with punch, heaviness, and a few sonic twists and turns. The heavy-hitting track is directly inspired by dread, cosmic existentialism, and author H.P. Lovecraft. As guitarist/clean vocalist Jesse Cash explains:
“I watched a 2017 Lovecraftian film called The Endless that had this scene where the protagonist realizes a second moon has appeared in the sky. That scene always stuck with me. I can't recall whether it was implied that the moons were the eyes of Cthulhu or directly suggested, but that concept was so fun to me to imagine there were two giant eyes looking down at us malevolently. From that, I imagined the idea of two coins over the eyes of a corpse resembling two moons over a lifeless earth staring into space.”
Watch the video for “Pale Iris” below:
Awakebutstillinbed – Chaos takes the wheel and i am a passenger
San Jose, CA outfit awakebutstillinbed are at the forefront of blending incendiary, angular screamo with the delicate sounds of 90s power-pop. Now, sure, that’s an odd mix, but they absolutely make it work—think At The Drive-In meets Modest Mouse or The Gin Blossoms. The group have dropped two singles to announce their sophomore LP, chaos takes the wheel and i am but a passenger, out on October 20th through Tiny Engines. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Going Swimming – “All Dressed Up To Cry”
Naarm/Melbourne-based surf-punkers Going Swimming are back with an energetic new single. “All Dressed up to Cry” is a propulsive indie-punk banger led by the gruff vocals of lead singer Nicholas Leggatt, and it’s also the quartet’s first slice of new material since 2018’s Sultans of Swim LP. Talking about the inspiration behind the track, the band states:
“‘All Dressed up to Cry’ came about during lockdown… It was a really difficult period (particularly down here in Melbourne), and it was only made more difficult by the breakdown of a long-term relationship. It was a pretty dark time—particularly when you lose so many outlets that keep you sane. It felt like the only thing to look forward to was dressing up for shitty awkward drinks over Zoom with your mates and doing your best to get through it.”
Listen to “All Dressed Up To Cry” here.
SLOWCUT – In Death Is Relief
Anyone who knows me can attest to my love for the dense, lumbering post-metal of acts like Russian Circles, ISIS, and Rosetta. Well, Meanjin/Brisbane-based outfit SLOWCUT may have only made their live debut last year, but I had a chance to see them open the recent A Cold Day In BNE fest a few weeks back, and they’re a must-see for fans of intense music. The group have finally announced the release of their colossal debut full-length, In Death Is Relief, which arrives on September 1st as a collaboration between Bad Habit Records and Team Glasses Records. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Post Heaven – “See You At The End”
Post Heaven are an emerging post-hardcore band from Naarm/Melbourne and a promising new Aussie band on my radar. The quintet started out as a collaboration between musicians Patrick Kearney and Yasmin de Laine, forming to channel “an aggressive meditation upon reclaiming one’s power through violent means.” The group have released their debut lead single, which also acts as it's our first taster of their forthcoming EP, Watch The Framework As It Falls. It’s a catchy alt-metal rager that should appeal to fans of Glassjaw, Deftones, Fleshwater, and Pupil Slicer. Listen to “See You At The End” here.
Upchuck – Bite The Hand That Feeds
Atlanta punk upstarts Upchuck have announced their new album Bite the Hand That Feeds, coming October 13 via Famous Class. The group deal in a signature blend of soulful vocals, high-impact punk riffage, and a free-spirited rhythmic flow. According to the album’s press material, the release is described as “songs about the joy of continuing to live, songs that find each other in the rush of a crushing reality,” where the group offers “freedom through sensation, a type of unserious transcendence found through the swirl of bodies melting into one another in the passion of dance.” And that’s a big “hell yeah” from me. Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
END – “Gaping Wounds of Earth”
Metalcore supergroup END are gearing up for the release of their second full-length offering, The Sin of Human Frailty, due out on October 27th via Closed Casket Activities. The record follows the group’s destructive 2020 album debut, Splinters From an Ever-Changing Face, and last year’s excellent Gather & Mourn split EP with Cult Leader. According to guitarist and producer mastermind Will Putney:
“We didn’t want to lean on our influences too heavily, whether it’s in terms of production, guitar tone, arrangement, or other elements. We were like, ‘Let’s just make a record that sounds like END’. I feel like there’s more of an identity to the band than there has ever been on this record.”
Watch the video for “Gaping Wounds of Earth” below:
Subsonic Eye – All Around You
Singaporean quintet Subsonic Eye work within the boundaries of peppy pop-rock, with jangly melodies and off-kilter rhythmic changes in the vein of Alvvays, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. On the group’s upcoming fourth LP, All Around You, out September 13th through Topshelf Records, vocalist Nur Wahidah reflects on the brutal and monotonous cycles of our late-capitalist hellscape:
“I was (and still am) so completely frustrated with finding a job I care about... I hate talking about it, I need a full-time job, but I don't want to talk about it. I just feel like my passions and skills just don't translate to 'real life'! I just feel like I'm incredibly happy in life, but day by day, I feel like I start convincing myself that my self-worth is measured by the job I have and the things I can afford.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2023 CUTS playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Spirit Adrift – Ghost at the Gallows
On a recent Hit List episode of The Pitch pod, Nate Garrett, riff lord and creative mastermind for US metallers Spirit Adrift, ran through his “Top 10 Greatest Riff Writers of All Time,” and it’s an impressive list of artists that tracks the sonic trajectory of his group for over the last decade: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Slayer, Pantera, Megadeth, and Crowbar.
Ghost at the Gallows, the quartet’s fifth full-length, is a record three years in the making, punctuated at every level with the thematic struggle of death, grief, and tragedy. As Garrett attests: “My mother passed when I was four months old, so death has been a part of my life from even before I can remember… But from 2020 to 2022, when I was working on this album, it was just constant — a lot of family, friends and pets dying.”
From the 80s thrash and heavy metal inspirations on “Hanged Man’s Revenge,” delivered through catchy chord progressions, layered harmonies, and playful solos, or the twangy leads and Southwestern-meets-prog influence on the expansive “Siren of the South,” Ghost at the Gallows is an uplifting and triumphant affirmation on human becoming; an emphatic call to arms that urges the listener to “rise up and grab life by the horns in a post-pandemic world of reinvigorated possibilities.”
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Joining The Pitch pod last week was none other than the affable Serena Cherry, vocalist/guitarist for kitchen-sink metallers Svalbard and the creative mastermind behind one-woman bedroom black metal project Noctule. Coming through with a suitably epic “selection pack,” Serena’s Hit List walks us through a variety of moods and spaces, including power metal camaraderie, dazzling symphonic belters, literary-inspired ragers, and serene soundtracks. Check it out in full below:
I'd love to have Serena on my podcast! Svalbard is just crushing it!