Weekly Roundup: February 3rd
Featuring Poison The Well, Deafheaven, Employed To Serve, and more.
Editor’s Note: Yes, I know this is also late. I’m still recovering from the sickness we acquired while in Trump’s America. Here is a photo of me right now (if you even care):
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Last week, Windwaker frontman and all-round good bloke Liam Guinane jumped on the pod to chat about the group’s latest release: a deluxe version of last year’s sophomore smash LP, Hyperviolence: Expansion Pack, out on Friday 14th through Fearless Records/Civilians.
Liam gives us the lowdown on the band’s latest material from the initial Hyperviolence sessions, overcoming self-doubt, pushing creative boundaries, and touring North America last year with fellow Aussie heavy hitters Northlane and Thornhill. It’s a fun (albeit low bitrate) conversation. Check it out!
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Now, on with the words…
SIDE A:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Slow Crush – “Cherry”
Is there a subgenre that is more ascendant right now than shoegaze? Everyone, from TikTok teens to major label hopefuls, is trying to shimmer and fuzz their way to the top. SLOW CRUSH has been a jewel of the underground for years, thanks to critically acclaimed albums like Aurora (2018) and Hush (2021). With their signing to Pure Noise Records, the Belgian outfit is ready to usher in a new era, and this one sounds gloriously triumphant.
The band states that their latest single is a “wistful longing for something fresh and new, creating a stormy and effervescent anthology. Evoking an almost thematic cascade of noise that echoes the end and bursts into new life. ‘Cherry’ feels like the perfect first single. A new, fresh start. ‘Shed your skin.’” Watch the visualiser for “Cherry” below:
Inhuman Nature – Greater Than Death
We last heard from hellraisers INHUMAN NATURE with the release of their stellar Under The Boot EP in 2022 and their Ninth Realm split the following year. Well, the London/Hastings crossover kings return with their eagerly awaited second album, Greater Than Death, out April 25th through Church Road Records.
With a penchant for extremity, taking influence from hardcore, crust, death and doom, the group have toured with Crowbar, Green Lung, Heriot, High Command, Grove Street, Puppy, and more. Stream the LP’s pre-release single/s here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Deafheaven – “Magnolia”
DEAFHEAVEN are a curious oddity in the realm of heavy music. The San Francisco quintet’s breakout LP, 2013’s enigmatic Sunbather, is rightly held up as a blackgaze masterpiece (its follow-up, New Bermuda, is even better IMHO), while their last record, 2021’s Infinite Granite, sanded off their sonic edges leaving a smooth amorphous surface of shimmer and gloss, for better and for worse.
Lonely People With Power is the group’s sixth full-length album and Roadrunner debut, due on March 28th, with Justin Meldal-Johnsen returning as producer. Interpol’s Paul Banks and Boy Harsher’s Jae Matthews are featured guests, and if lead single “Magnolia” is any gauge of expectation, the banshee shrieks and frosty blast-beats are back with a vengeance like it’s 2015. LFGGG. Listen here.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Death Hilarious
One of my favourite books of the last few years is Electric Wizards by JR Moores: a fascinating, detailed survey of the sonic tapestry woven across heavy music for the last half-century. Last week, I was stoked to see that Geordie noise rockers PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS have finally announced their new album, Death Hilarious (yes, that is indeed a Blood Meridian reference), out on April 4th through Rocket Recordings. And guess who wrote the group’s Bandcamp album bio? That’s right, Moores himself:
“Death Hilarious is a diversely punishing record which shapeshifts through Sabbathian doom, grotesquely minimalist noise rock and cyclical post-metal fortissimos. Pigs continue to push themselves, too. Incongruous synthesiser solos appear where guitar histrionics would usually fit. Piano tracks lurk in the mix, adding near-subliminal depth to the maelstrom.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release single/s here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Employed To Serve – “Atonement” (feat. Will Ramos)
I’ve been waiting oh-so patiently for UK groove titans EMPLOYED TO SERVE to resurface, and now is finally the time. Fallen Star, the group’s forthcoming album and follow-up to 2021’s Conquering, is scheduled to be released on April 25th via Spinefarm Records. The record was produced and mixed by Lewis Johns (Lowen, Pupil Slicer, Burner), and it includes coveted guest features from Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage, Times Of Grace) and F.O.T.S. Serena Cherry (Svalbard).
According to guitarist and Church Road Records co-owner Sammy Urwin: “We want to fly the flag for heavy metal and the traditions that it holds. But, at the same time, we want to play our part in taking things forward.” Listen to “Atonement” featuring Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos here.
SIDE B:
More tracks for you. Deep cuts for the real heads. Still cool.
Thornhill – Bodies
Before the release of 2022’s sultry Heroine, I wasn’t a big THORNHILL guy. Still, the singles slapped, and once I dove into the entire record, the band’s intentional switch up from tired Northlane-isms into full-blown leather pants sex appeal with rumbling fat-ass grooves (technical term) and stratospheric hooks won me over. Call it 2000s nu-stalgia; call it bold evolution—the shit (still) rocks.
With Bodies, their long-awaited third LP, arriving on April 4th through UNFD, the Naarm/Melbourne rockers now have a chance to prove the haters wrong and drop back-to-back heaters. Let’s see if they’ve got the juice. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Poison The Well – “Trembling Level”
If you’ve been subbed to this newsletter for some time or are even remotely familiar with my writing for [insert publication here], you know I’m proudly a “metalcore guy.” This isn’t necessarily a secret; however, I use this point as a much-needed qualification for the following statement: It is hard, even for me, to overstate the impact of Poison The Well on the entire metalcore subgenre.
1999’s The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation marked the beginning of metalcore’s influential second wave and essentially defined the subgenre’s sound for the 2000s and beyond. After a lengthy hiatus, the band has roared back to the fold again, signing with SharpTone Records and releasing their first new song in 15 years (!). “Trembling Level” picks up where they left off with 2009’s The Tropic Rot and sounds just as weird and idiosyncratic as you’d expect (read: very sick).
Scowl – Are We All Angels
If 2023’s phenomenal Psychic Dance Routine EP announced SCOWL’s potential by pushing their sound to dizzying new heights, then Are We All Angels—their forthcoming full-length follow-up (out April 4th via Dead Oceans)—is set to put the Santa Cruz five-piece comfortably into low Earth orbit.
While the band’s sonic palette has previously zeroed in on a Negative Approach-meets-The Breeders synthesis of punk melody and snarling aggression, sharing a label with Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, and Japanese Breakfast means they’re now free to throw some Metric and Sonic Youth into the mix, with suitably engaging results. Stream the LP’s pre-release single/s here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
FEATURE ALBUM:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks my boxes.
L.S. Dunes – Violet
At the risk of being an etymological pedant (whoops, there we go), what do we mean when we say “supergroup”? At its root, the prefix “super” denotes something “over” its subject. However, other common usage cases include “above” and “beyond.” More broadly, what attributes and expectations are involved when well-respected, successful musicians collectively pour their deep talent pool into a new creative reservoir? The latest LP from L.S. DUNES may provide an answer.
Listening to Violet, one first hears the distinct sonic impressions of its constituent members: the gothic power-pop of My Chemical Romance, the progressive flirtations of Coheed And Cambria, the explosive catharsis of Thursday, and the intricate textures of Circa Survive. Yet, curiously, as the album progresses, each song presents itself as a paradox of its own creation, simultaneously the sum of its parts while being over and unknown to its shared origin—something above influence and wholly beyond comparison.
“People might have a preconceived notion of what this record is going to be based on the other bands that we’ve been in and the first record,” Frank Iero recently told Rock Sound, “but they have no idea. It’s completely different, and I love that about this record.” Violet’s function then is deceptively simple: it’s more than just an excuse to share resumes; it’s an idiosyncratic statement of intent.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify