Weekly Roundup: January 9th
Featuring Spidergawd, Object Of Affection, Captive, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Hail The Sun – “Mind Rider”
We’ve got a new cut from progressive post-hardcore quintet Hail The Sun. It’s their first offering of new material since 2021’s New Age Filth, a record I (mostly) enjoyed for its spiralling choruses, angular guitar lines, and scattershot tempo shifts. On their latest standalone single for Equal Vision Records, the group make full use of lush production to accent frontman Donovan Melero's soaring vocals. It’s fun and busy in ways that should appeal to fans of Coheed and Cambria, Dance Gavin Dance, and Circa Survive. Watch the video for “Mind Rider” below:
Pest Control – Don't Test the Pest
I spent most of last year raving about how good the current crop of UKHC is, and it looks like 2023 will be much of the same. Leeds crossover bruisers Pest Control have dropped a two-track promo for their upcoming debut LP. It’s called Don’t Test the Pest (exceptional title; no notes), and it arrives on February 10th through the good folks over at Quality Control HQ. If you like your hardcore punk sprinkled with party thrash vibes that range from Slayer at their most electric to Municipal Waste at peak sobriety, then this is for you. Stream the two-track promo here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Louser – “Stain”
In the 2010s, I was sweating the No Sleep Records back catalogue in a big way. Bands of that ilk—think Basement, Title Fight, Balance and Composure, etc.—were all grinding away in that sonic sweet spot between emo, alt-rock, and grunge with frequently magnificent results. Winnipeg quartet Louser sound right at home in this space, too, which makes me increasingly excited for the February 17th release of their No Sleep debut, Clandestine. Listen to “Stain” here.
Ahab – The Coral Tombs
Before finding Ahab and listening to pre-release tracks from their forthcoming fifth studio album, The Coral Tombs (out January 13th through Napalm Records), I wasn’t aware that ‘nautik doom’ was even a thing. And yet, for nearly two decades, these German metal lords have been making their niche microgenre a reality, peppering their expansive sound with watery tales ripped from the pages of Herman Melville, H.P. Lovecraft, and Jules Verne. As the group says of their new record: “it’s evil, it’s longing, it’s sad, it’s meditative, it’s cavernous, it’s vast, it’s ridiculously epic and as heavy as the colossal squid itself!” Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Zetra – “Sacred Song”
As much as I think the impulse to craft hyper-specific microgenre tags for indie artists is silly, mostly unnecessary, and likely a hangover from the digital boom and creative intersection of early 2010s music journalism, PR, and blogger/influencer clout, there’s something about “gothgaze” that feels uniquely suited to Zetra’s sonic wheelhouse. It’s all right there: the layered textures of shoegaze, the synth-heavy theatricality of gothic punk, the enveloping heaviness of doom, and the aesthetic presentation of black metal. The duo’s latest single is a total trip, and now I’m eager to see what form their next major project will take. Listen to “Sacred Song” here.
Captive – 2023 Promo
Sometimes getting straight to the point works in your favour. To that end, Cleveland heavy-hitters Captive craft crushing metallic hardcore that gets in and out of your cerebral cortex in the least amount of time necessary to inflict maximum psychic damage. The band’s latest two-track promo is a wrecking ball of pounding rhythms, bursts of chaotic d-beat, and burly, pissed-off vocals, with plenty of divebombs and cheeky pinch harmonics sprinkled throughout for good measure (I'm an absolute sucker for that shit; believe me). Stream the two-track promo here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Object Of Affection – “Half Life”
LA’s Object of Affection have announced their debut full-length, Field of Appearances, which will see a release through Profound Lore Records on March 3rd. The group features members of Fury, Death Bells, and LOCK and comfortably splits the difference between these sonic touchstones without sacrificing the urgency, atmosphere, and melody of each. Judging by the record’s lead single and album opener, we can likely expect the group’s LP to incorporate shades of gloomy punk, melancholic new wave, and fuzzed-out alt-rock, so count me in. Watch the video for “Half Life” below:
Spidergawd – Your Heritage b/w The Tower
It’s a pretty ballsy move to drop six self-titled records in less than a decade, but Norwegian rockers Spidergawd make that kind of cocksure capability seem effortless and natural. The quintet deal in fun and upbeat stoner rock, with a light NWOBHM touch and a penchant for colossal melodies, and their latest singles, “Your Heritage” and “The Tower,” appear to double down on that sound for their as-yet-unannounced seventh LP. (Who wants to bet it’ll be called Spidergawd or simply VII? Good odds, I reckon.) Stream the two-track single here (Spotify).
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Sleep Token – The Summoning b/w Chokehold
In talking about 2019’s Sundowning, the stunning debut full-length from the masked, anonymous collective known as Sleep Token, I described their sound as a mysterious form of elemental alchemy, consisting of “frontman Vessel’s subdued and gut-wrenching vocal delivery, plaintive guitar leads, shimmering synth lines and booming, progressive percussion” alongside gargantuan breakdowns that felt less like “shameless djent worship and more like continental drift speed up for the destruction of human ears.”
While I wasn’t as enamoured with their sophomore follow-up record, 2021’s This Will Become Your Tomb, the two surprise singles that dropped this week have me all kinds of excited for what might come next. It seems they may have a new album on the way (which I have tentatively seen titled Take Me Back To Eden). It may also have twelve tracks. They may also be working with a new producer (Carl Bown), or maybe they’ve returned to an existing producer. At present, rumours abound, and confirmed details are thin at best.
What I do know is that “The Summoning” is astonishingly good, even for Sleep Token. It might even be the best thing they’ve ever done. The song’s quaking moments of earth-shattering heaviness are subtly caressed by Vessel’s indomitable vocal range and delivery, all while his wavering vibrato swerves around a smooth, proggy guitar solo, a glittering and sparsely rendered ambient void and a funked-up, synth-led outro. If their next project has even half the talent on display in this two-track teaser, then I cannot wait for LP#3.
Stream here: Spotify
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2023 CUTS playlist, updated weekly.
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Have you checked in on The Pitch pod lately? We kicked off 2023 with our first-ever guest episode! Andy Marsh from Aussie death metal juggernaut Thy Art Is Murder stopped by to talk about the tenth anniversary of Hate and share his Hit List of diverse influences that went into the record. It’s a great chat, and you can check it out in full right now, along with all of our episodes: