Weekly Roundup: June 3rd
Featuring Terminal Sleep, Girl Scout, Volatile Ways, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Nightlife – “strangeluv”
We last heard from soul-punks nightlife back in early January, after they dropped their brilliant “face2face” single on Christmas Day. Well, the Baltimore trio are now a quartet, and they’re back with a smooth two-track release: “i/o” and “strangeluv”. Sonically, it’s business as usual for the group, with infectious booty-shaking grooves, lavish production details, and dazzling vocal theatrics from frontman Hansel Romero. Debut album release when??? Watch the video for “strangeluv” below:
Kaonashi – A Second Chance at Forever: The Brilliant Lies from Casey Diamond
Philly experimental post-hardcore outfit Kaonashi have announced another new release for 2024, and this one’s titled A Second Chance at Forever: The Brilliant Lies from Casey Diamond (out on July 26th through Equal Vision Records). The five-track EP advances the group’s conceptual narrative storyline, adding depth to character arcs last explored on their previous EP, The 3 Faces of Beauty: A Violent Misinterpretation of Morgan Montgomery (Oi, how good are long-ass song titles? Retvrn to tradition, I say.) If you wanna hear me have a sick chat with frontman Peter Rono, go here. Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Volatile Ways – “The Invocation of Doom”
Off the back of their huge national tour run earlier this year with internationals The Acacia Strain & Dying Wish, Newcastle heavyweights Volatile Ways are back with a new assbeater, and this one is predictably heavy-as-shit. “The Invocation of Doom” features the guttural vocal prowess of frontwoman Emilly Beekmans, earth-shattering bass rumblings from Lewy Glass (also of Honest Crooks), and a cascading drum performance by Chas Levi. This one follows last year’s “Pink Mist Wish List” and is rumoured to be an advance single for the group’s as-yet-unannounced debut album. Listen to “The Invocation of Doom” here.
Forager – The Knife
The new band on my radar this week hails from the UK. It’s Manchester quintet Forager, who, as best I can tell, have been kicking around since 2017 but picking up steam lately with a slew of polished singles. You can expect some stellar alt-rock choruses crashing against fuzzed-out grunge revivalism with a dash of hardcore’s rhythmic aggression. It’s great stuff, and The Knife is out now. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Girl Scout – “I Just Needed You To Know”
Following the release of their acclaimed 2023 debut EPs Real Life Human Garbage and Granny Music, Swedish indie band Girl Scout are back with their new single, “I Just Needed You To Know”. It’s an energetic, ear-worm track mixed by producer Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Indigo De Souza, Hotline TNT) and arrives ahead of the group’s upcoming live dates in the UK & Europe, where they will join Alvvays for their highly anticipated summer tour. As vocalist/guitarist Emma Jansson states:
“The phrase “it is what it is” is one that I hear a lot amongst the older generations. To me, it feels like a way to avoid acknowledging hard times or difficult feelings. It’s such a stifling phrase. What if that’s not enough? What if I want more than to grit my teeth and move on? I think there is a clear generational divide when it comes to the language surrounding mental health and the willingness to understand the causes behind it.”
Listen to “I Just Needed You To Know” here.
Los Campesinos! – All Hell
Welsh outfit Los Campesinos! are back and cheekily billing themselves as “The UK's first and only emo band.” The veracity of that dubious claim aside, the upcoming seventh studio album from the Cardiff group, All Hell, will see release on July 19th via Heart Swells. It’s the group’s first album in seven years, following 2017’s Sick Scenes, as well as their first not to be issued by their longtime label Wichita. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Terminal Sleep – “Spineless”
I’ve been hanging out for new music from Naarm/Melbourne metallic hardcore outfit Terminal Sleep, and it’s finally here. The group’s new single “Spineless” was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Elliot Gallart at Chameleon Studios and will feature on an upcoming two-track alongside “Shadows,” scheduled for release on July 9th. The single release follows 2023’s Chapter 2: Elicit Fear EP and finds Terminal Sleep ramping up their trademark intensity with grim riffage, caustic vocals, and adrenaline-spiking breakdowns. Watch the clip for “Spineless” below:
Balance and Composure – With You In Spirit
In another surprise for the 2024 bingo card, we got not one but two new songs from 2010s staples Balance And Composure last week, along with the announcement of a brand new album, With You In Spirit, out on October 4th through Memory Music. The new LP will be the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Light We Made and features longtime collaborator Will Yip‘s contribution to production, co-writing, and even releasing the record via his own label as the band’s “unofficial sixth member.” As vocalist, guitarist, and F.O.T.S. Jon Simmons states:
“I began to feel like a kid again. We were writing these songs for the pure reason of having an outlet and getting together with your friends, no pressure. We were longing for it, and we found it as soon as we got together. We didn’t want that train to stop.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2024-7 HITS playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
The Hope Conspiracy – Tools of Oppression/Rule By Deception
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this particular moment in time—an era of “political division, economic manipulation, war profiteering, media propaganda and other vile forms of global oppression”—sees a group like The Hope Conspiracy roar back to life with a new extremely pissed-off record after years on inactivity.
The band’s latest LP, Tools of Oppression/Rule By Deception, is out now through Deathwish Inc. and follows on from 2023’s excellent Confusion/Chaos/Misery EP. At a sonic and lyrical level, the album finds Hope Con striking the same vitriolic register they’ve mastered across previous releases, and in particular, frontman Kevin Baker’s perspective on current events is brutally pertinent:
“The system is designed to crush the common people. If you don’t feel it now, you will. If you don’t see it now, you will. It’s the approaching storm on the horizon, and there is no escaping it. The west is dead, and our end is near.”
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Channelling his inner Prince of Darkness (complete with cape and mutton chops), Cancer Bats frontman Liam Cormier joined The Pitch pod last week to chat about the Canadian quartet’s upcoming return Down Under, the loose live feel of 2022’s Psychic Jailbreak LP, and the origins of the group’s dark alter ego, Bat Sabbath. With a focus on the ‘70s Ozzy-era, Liam runs through some of the more eclectic choices from the early Sabbath catalogue and the cuts that translate best for ritualistic heavy metal worship. Check it out below: