Weekly Roundup: July 11th
Featuring Stand Still, Revocation, Armor For Sleep, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Armor For Sleep – “How Far Apart”
Well, shit. If you’d told me that we’d be getting not just an Armor For Sleep reunion in 2022 but a new album on top of it, I wouldn’t have believed you. The group’s seminal LP and Equal Visions debut, What To Do When You Are Dead (2005), is one of the most underrated emo/post-hardcore albums of all time, in my humble opinion, so I’m super excited to dive right into their upcoming full-length, The Rain Museum (out September 9th). Originally planned as the follow-up to WTDWYAD, and written during the pandemic and the dissolution of frontman Ben Jorgensen’s eight-year marriage, I have a feeling that this one is going to be a total doozie. Watch the video for lead single “How Far Apart” below:
Stand Still – In A Moment’s Notice
Stand Still’s A Practice of Patience was one of the standout EPs of 2021, recalling “the glory days of The Movielife and Silent Majority, pairing emo lyricism with churning punk-rock riffage and a punchy rhythmic backbone.” On their sophomore follow-up, In A Moment’s Notice (out July 20th through DAZE/Triple B Records), the Long Island quintet keep the soaring hooks and catchy guitar licks front and centre with a big helping of high-energy, 90s fuzz on the edges. Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Terminal Sleep – “Death Therapy”
I’ve been watching the hype build around Naarm (Melbourne) heavy hardcore outfit Terminal Sleep for a while now. On their highly anticipated debut single, “Death Therapy,” the seasoned quintet (featuring studio and live members from Aussie staples like Clowns, In Trenches, Whitehorse, Starve, and R.U.N.) take the weight of expectation and swing it like a sledgehammer in the pit. The track is furious and bludgeoning, acting as the perfect sonic representation of frontwoman Bec Thorwesten’s “bad bitch” lyrical invective. Definitely a “big things coming” situation (you know the drill). Listen to “Death Therapy” here.
The Others – Dive Into My World
Speaking of hot-shit Aussie talent, Newcastle heavyweights Last Ride Records are back at it again, this time dropping the new four-track EP from Perth hardcore stalwarts The Others. Dive Into My World rocks in the spirit of acts like Righteous Jams and No Warning—think ample divebombs, tight drum work, and hard-as-nails riffs that make you wanna clench-fist away your troubles. It’s the business, folks. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Approachable Members of Your Local Community – “Not My Vibe”
Melbourne indie-boppers Approachable Members Of Your Local Community (stellar band name btw) have dropped a brand new single and their third since retooling their line-up into a quintet, fleshed out with vocals from new member Sage Mellet. “Not My Vibe” is a breezy summer number (perfect for the Southern hemisphere winter), with a smooth instrumental and catchy vocal refrain that sparkles from the harmonic interplay between Mellet and Josh Blashki. According to the band, the track “is about pushing for clarity and commitment, because flings were so 2010.” Listen to “Not My Vibe” here.
END / Cult Leader – Gather & Mourn
Heavy supergroup END and Salt Lake City’s Cult Leader are two of the most sonically punishing acts to rip a stage in recent memory. When news broke this week that both groups were teaming up for the impending release of their Gather & Mourn split EP (out September 8th through Closed Casket Activities), I couldn’t be more stoked at this devastating pairing of abrasive metalcore and sludge-caked death grind. The EP will feature new material from both bands, the first since END’s crushing debut full-length, Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face (2020), and Cult Leader’s A Patient Man (2018). Stream the split EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Revocation – “Diabolical Majesty”
With their first album in four years, tech-death thrashers Revocation have turned their formidable arsenal against the troublesome rise of Christian extremity in their home country. Titled Netherheaven (out September 9th through Metal Blade Records), the album follows the group’s Lovecraftian-themed 2018 full-length, The Outer Ones, and even rocks a quote from author and fellow Substacker Chris Hedges in its presser: “The merger of the corporatists with the Christian right is the marrying of Godzilla to Frankenstein.” Hell yeah! Watch the video for the record’s ripping lead single, “Diabolical Majesty,” below:
Anberlin – Silverline
When I was in my emo heyday (shut up; we all had one), Anberlin’s 2005 sophomore smash Never Take Friendship Personal was a bonafide scene staple. Sure, yes, they were Christians, but, as I always say: ‘Never let theology get in the way of a good banger.’ (Editor’s note: I almost never say this.) Now, while I haven’t followed the band that closely in the last decade, the Florida five-piece do have a new self-produced EP on the way. Silverline is out later this month through Equal Vision Records and is set to feature five tracks of anthemic alternate rock, with some production assistance from Underoath’s Tim McTague among others. Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2022 TUNES playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Greg Puciato – Mirrorcell
Few artists within the realm of alternative music could lay claim to a body of work as prolific and chameleonic as Greg Puciato.
Born in Baltimore and based in L.A., Puciato’s impressive back catalogue stretches across two decades and remains a testament to his fierce creative talent: sixteen years of larynx-shredding ferocity and infamous stage performances as frontman for mathcore quintet The Dillinger Escape Plan; the creative mastermind behind the sultry croons and pulsing 80s rhythms of dark synthwave/electronic outfit The Black Queen; forming one-quarter of alt-metal supergroup Killer Be Killed alongside members of Mastodon, Soulfly and Converge; and two records of disparate solo material (2020’s Child Solider: Creator of God and Fuck Content). As Rolling Stone said of Puciato in 2015: “few singers live, breathe and often literally bleed their art like he does.”
On Mirrorcell, Puciato has finally found unity in expression. While CS: CoG often felt wildly unfocused (no doubt a by-product of the material’s pandemic-fuelled origins and Puciato’s dynamic personality), his second solo LP is his most vulnerable and cohesive effort, distilling passion and powerlessness into self-reflective purpose.
Produced by Steve Evetts (The Cure, Sepultura) and recorded with drummer Chris Hornbrook (Poison the Well, Dhani Harrison, Big Black Delta), the nine-track album fuses Puciato's knack for crafting serpentine hooks (“Lowered”) and shimmering soundscapes with the contained aggression of grunge and alt-rock (“Never Wanted That”), merging influences from Soundgarden and Black Sabbath to genre-bending contemporaries like Code Orange and Carpenter Brut.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Links to some of my other published work across the Web. Take a look, share if you feel like it, and help a brother out.
If you’re not watching For All Mankind (Apple TV+), then you’re missing out. The show’s third season takes gripping interpersonal drama and alternate history shenanigans to the Red Planet with thrilling results. It’s my favourite sci-fi series since The Expanse and I can’t recommend it enough. Read my season three review below: