Weekly Roundup: February 27th
Featuring Public Opinion, Dust, Militarie Gun, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
RUN – “Everyone’s Cancelled. Everything’s Cancer”
RUN is the Melbourne metal project led by vocalist and friend of the pod, Lochlan Watt. Since their inception in 2019, the band has been through continued setbacks, including Watt’s brain cancer diagnosis, multiple surgeries and treatments, member/lineup shuffles, and everything involved with the pandemic. 2020’s For You Will Never Find Peace Within Your Quiet was a dark fusion of black metal, post-metal and metalcore, and the group’s latest track marks a lyrical departure from that release’s solemn introspection, shifting to a register of venomous disgust aimed squarely at humanity. Watch the performance video for “Everyone’s Cancelled. Everything’s Cancer” below:
Public Opinion – Heaven Sent b/w Dry Clean Only
Denver-based group Public Opinion have dropped a new two-track single through Convulse Records. “Heaven Sent” and its B-side “Dry Clean Only” were produced/engineered by Taylor Young (Militarie Gun, God’s Hate, Nails) and mark a further progression of the band’s core premise, which is essentially, “What if The Hives sounded more like Refused?” It blends the grit and immediacy of hardcore punk with the swagger and style of early 2000s garage rock and guitar pop. Super fun, super catchy—get around it. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Serration – “A Suicide Note in MIDI Format” feat. Emma Boster
While Canadian metalcore band Serration have been quiet over the last few years (apart from their excellent 2022 Promo split with A Mourning Star), they’ve finally announced their former signing to hardcore label DAZE, and the impending release of their debut album, Simulations Of Hell, later this year. New while-you-wait single “A Suicide Note in MIDI Format” is a frantic metalcore rager featuring guest vocals from Dying Wish’s Emma Boster. Speaking on the collaboration, Serration stated, quote:
“Dying Wish and Serration have been best friends since the inception of our bands; from our first tour together, to our split, we’ve always had plans to be doing music together as bands. It was a pleasure to have Emma sing on our latest single from our first LP, no one could do it better.”
Listen to “A Suicide Note in MIDI Format” here.
Dust – et cetera, etc
Newcastle alt-punks dust have announced their debut EP et cetera, etc, out on March 29th via Kanine Records. Lead single “Ward 52” is a playful number with gripping commentary on class division and sociocultural power imbalances. If you’re into stuff like Iceage, Fontaines D.C. and Bambara, then this one is for you. On the meaning behind the single, vocalist Justin Teale says:
“I wrote the lyrics to ‘Ward 52’ over 6 months while washing dishes at my parent’s café. Processing a year of health complications, I tried to encapsulate different stages and experiences during my treatment and the idea of mortality and sickness.”
The group are also gearing up for a UK/Europe tour with Hockey Dad in April, following the EP’s release, so expect big things from these guys. Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Patient Sixty-Seven – “Lake Valley”
Seemingly through the power of memes alone, Patient Sixty-Seven frontman Tom Kiely has garnered considerable hype for the Perth metalcore underdogs. I’ve had my eyes on the group for a while, through their independent debut album release in 2022, and Kiely’s virality has finally paid off with an invitation to play at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in September, which will be among the band’s first US shows. They’re also touring domestically in April/May with Crooked Royals, and they’ve dropped a hard-hitting new single to keep the fire hot. Listen to “Lake Valley” here.
The Shits – You’re A Mess
Leeds bruisers The Shits are dropping their second album, You’re A Mess, on April 14th via Rocket Recordings. It’s a raucous collection of in-your-face, scuzzy punk perfect for dive bars and footpath altercations, with a lead single in the form of “Waiting”: a claustrophobic mid-tempo number that goes for the throat and locks on with a vice grip. As their Bandcamp bio dictates:
“Listen to this album and you will believe once again in catharsis by way of heavy amplification. Psych-rock is dead, and The Shits are the executioners. Assume the position.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Militarie Gun – “Do It Faster”
L.A. punk all-stars Militarie Gun continue to blend hardcore, punk and indie like no one else in the game right now. Fronted by Regional Justice Center’s Ian Shelton and also featuring members of Drug Church and Modern Color, the group’s latest track, “Do It Faster,” serves as the lead single from their upcoming, as-yet-unnamed debut LP. It’s a catchy, fuzzed-out number that doesn’t sacrifice the grit and texture of the band’s roots. According to Shelton, the track “is about my overall impatience with life. The agonizing wait for things to materialize… so before resigning to do it myself, I'm imploring the world to just move faster.” Check out the clip for “Do It Faster” below:
Fever Shack – Raw Doggin Reality
Melbourne hardcore outfit Fever Shack are looking to “bring the energy back” with the upcoming release of their new LP. It’s called Raw Doggin’ Reality (great title) and it’s out on March 1st through Stiff Cut Records. The album was engineered and mixed by Sam Johnson, mastered by Arthur Rizk, and features a rollicking guest feature from Antagonist A.D.’s Sam Crocker. 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.
Going Off – What Makes You Tick?
Here’s a hot take for you. Hardcore hits hardest when it’s talking about real shit. I don’t think this a revelatory notion by any means, and no shade intended towards personal, introspective hardcore, but sometimes you just want music that feels like taking a wrecking ball to our eternally frustrating status quo.
Manchester hardcore punk quintet Going Off epitomise this approach on their debut album, What Makes You Tick?, for Church Road Records. This is angry, pissed-off, clench-fisted hardcore with relentless energy and strong socio-cultural lyrical themes. Tracks like “Black White Blue” and “Flesh Prison” take aim at police corruption, sexual violence and transphobic hatred—issues that feel uniquely pointed within the UK's tumultuous cultural environment at present. This is already one of my favourite heavy albums of the year so far, and if acts like Candy, Gulch and Trash Talk do anything for you, then you need to hear this one ASAP.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
On our latest guest episode of The Pitch pod, we go in-depth with Tyronne Gitezmann from global fastcore/powerviolence outfit Persecutor, touching on everything from racism, oppression, and systemic inequality to scene politics, heavy music as catharsis, and a mutual love for nerdy ass sci-fi. It’s a great episode that features a blitz of tracks from Extortion, Insect Warfare, Discharge, Bad Brains, and more. Check it out below: