Weekly Roundup: May 20th
Featuring Static Dress, Head Automatica, Dear Seattle, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
The Gloom In The Corner – “The Jericho Protocol”
I’ve been following Naarm/Melbourne prog-metalcore act The Gloom In The Corner for a while now, but their latest single is a wild one and finally made me take notice. “The Jericho Protocol” is out now through SharpTone Records, and it’s our first taste of the quartet’s material with new members guitarist Jesse Abdurazak and drummer Joshua Clinch.
The band’s narrative-driven approach to heavy music is what I’m calling “lorecore” (you’re welcome), and frontman Mikey Arthur is also set to publish a short-story tie-in titled A Reflection, A Thousand Deaths later this month. Watch the video for “The Jericho Protocol” below:
New Miserable Experience – Absent Lovers
You can find more info on bedroom synth rockers New Miserable Experience below, but the Philly supergroup are back with their debut full-length album, Absent Lovers, due for release later this year through the good folks at Translation Loss Records. The record is “about love, [and] more specifically, the fact that most of humanity seems to lack love for anyone and/or anything.”
With members of underground metal mainstays like Rosetta, Model Prisoner, Revocation and Rivers of Nihil, Absent Lovers sees NMEX expanding on the textural sonics and pop sensibilities of their Philosophy On Pessimism EP. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Dear Seattle – “Sungazer”
Dear Seattle have dropped another new single, and this one’s a driving melodic number with an irresistible hook. (Big surprise there.) “Sungazer” is out now via Domestic La La, and it’s a super catchy earworm that showcases an organic evolution for the Sydney rockers in their core sound and approach to songwriting. As vocalist and guitarist Brae Fisher explains:
“‘Sungazer’ has a little bit of everything you can expect to hear in the new DS. It dips into some new territories and sonics but still feels utterly true to us at its core, and that’s what I love about it. It’s a song I feel so personally connected to both lyrically and musically, and I feel like we’ve hit something truly unique to us.”
The group are currently on the road around regional Australia as part of their “idc” tour before their first-ever overseas tour in November, taking off for a co-headlining tour with Superbloom across Europe and the UK. Listen to “Sungazer” here.
Julie Christmas – Ridiculous and Full of Blood
I first came across Julie Christmas through her striking 2016 collaborative LP with post-metal luminaries Cult Of Luna, Mariner. While Christmas is perhaps best known for her tenure in noise rock outfit Made Out Of Babies (2004–2012), her vocal performance was/is haunting and enthralling in equal measure and still gives me chills to this day. Ridiculous And Full Of Blood is her first solo record in 14 years and will be released on June 14th via Red Crk Recordings.
The record features an all-star lineup of metal musicians, rounded out by guitarist/vocalist Johannes Persson (Cult Of Luna), drummer Chris Enriquez (Spotlights), bassist Andrew Schneider (KEN Mode/Unsane), guitarist John LaMacchia (Candiria), and keyboardist Tom Tierney. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Head Automatica – “Bear The Cross”
Recalling the distant Long, Long Ago, when MySpace Top 8’s and profile songs reigned supreme, “Beating Heart Baby” is a certified banger that has refused to fade from my new-music-focused lizard brain. Well, get ready for even more throwbacks, folks, because from Glassjaw side project Head Automatica have surprise dropped their first new single in 15 years (!). “Bear The Cross” is a moody, atmospheric cut that resurfaces the group’s penchant for engaging electronic pop. According to frontman Daryl Palumbo:
“To me, ‘Bear The Cross’ is both a logical and unexpected evolution of Head Automatica’s sound. The sounds and ideas are very familiar, but age undeniably changes your personality, creative leanings and approach. There is an urgency and boldness in what you feel empowered to produce after a certain point.”
The band is currently preparing for new shows, including an NYC stop and an outing at the UK’s Slam Dunk Festival. Listen to “Bear The Cross” here.
Earth Tongue – Great Haunting
A new band on my radar this week comes in the form of Earth Tongue from Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The heavy psych/stoner rock duo are currently in the middle of a gargantuan 50-plus date Europe/UK tour, and their forthcoming album, Great Haunting, will be released via In The Red Records on June 14th.
The duo recently had a support slot for rock titans Queens of the Stone Age in Auckland, and their latest single, “Out of This Hell,” is a fuzzed-out number with a spooky synth intro and a gothic horror, 70s cinema-inspired clip. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Static Dress – “crying”
Back in 2022, I wrote about how on Rogue Carpet Disaster, Static Dress’s long-awaited debut LP, “each chorus, bridge and hasty transition zigs as much as it zags,” revealing “elements that continue to be both curious and exhilarating.”
Now, the UK phenomenon are ramping up for their next chapter with the release of “Crying,” a catchy, emotive post-hardcore rager with a captivating music video directed by the group themselves. The Leeds quartet will also embark on a supporting run with Underoath across North America for the 20th anniversary of the seminal They’re Only Chasing Safety later this year. (Here’s hoping they squeeze out a sophomore album while they’re at it.) Watch the clip for “crying” below:
Plovers – Fear The Man Who Hides in Light
Plovers describe themselves as Naarm/Melbourne's “9th most popular post-hardcore band,” and I’m always down to support healthy levels of self-deprecation. The trio’s debut full-length, Fear the Man Who Hides in Light, is out on August 1st and represents “years of work distilled into a tight 35 minutes of kaleidoscopic fury.”
The group’s sound borrows liberally from the respective post-hardcore, dance punk, and sludge metal canons while covering topics such as racism, greed, discrimination, and corporate cronyism. Oh, and it’s full of catchy punk bangers, too. 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.
Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
Last month, writer/podcaster Eli Enis wrote a great piece for Stereogum that dared to ask why “Metal’s Stadium Class Is Less Metal Than Ever”:
“Who’s coming to save us from a fate where Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin inherit the remaining headlining slots at festivals like Download and Aftershock? Death metal diehards might not give a shit, but this stuff matters to the overall health of the genre.”
Well, do you know who does give a shit? Sonoran desert death metallers Gatecreeper. The quintet’s third full-length, Dark Superstition, is out now through Nuclear Blast, and it’s a brutal, unforgiving slab of full-throttle “stadium death metal” with mammoth riffs, fat buzzsaw tone, haunting lead melodies, earthmover grooves, and a roaring, vulnerable vocal performance from frontman Chase Mason.
Produced by metal maestro Kurt Ballou with additional input from Dismember’s Fred Etsby, Dark Superstition elevates Gatecreeper’s sound to glorious new heights. The sonic vision is cohesive and fully realised. The riffs are sharper, the songwriting more concise, the vocals more piercing and direct. Nearly every aspect is dialled the fuck in. If this is the future of metal’s stadium class and represents a prospect for genuine mainstream crossover, then so be it. Let’s fucking go!
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Philly supergroup New Miserable Experience (featuring members of Rosetta, Revocation and Rivers of Nihil) are dropping their debut full-length later this year, and it’s a sprawling record full of lingering melodies, delicate synths, and bristling ambient textures, one that dares to interrogate the spaces between forlorn desire and bitter regret, the inner territory of self and the restless yearning of solitude. Frontman David Grossman joined The Pitch pod to run through the band’s formation, the genesis of Absent Lovers, and his mammoth Hit List of diverse, wide-ranging influences. Check it out below:
Always gotta support Rosetta adjacent projects! As for Julie... Battle of Mice. You need that in your life, too.