Weekly Roundup: November 4th
Featuring Blood Command, Neon Nightmare, Blue Vedder, and more.
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
For Perth metalcore juggernaut Make The Suffer, their self-titled fifth album (out November 8th through Greyscale & SharpTone Records) represents a clear reaffirmation of their sonic intent through unrelenting, genre-bending heaviness.
Frontman Sean Harmanis joined the pod last week to chat about touring outside the Western comfort zone, the group’s continued evolution, his creative dynamism with new member, keyboardist, and vocalist Alex Reade, and how the pressure of expectation yielded a daring new chapter in the band’s journey. Check it out below:
Question: Have you subscribed to the TPD Patreon?
It’s the best way to support me, support this newsletter, support the show, and help keep the lights on. We’ve got hours of bonus content, perks and fun stuff, with plenty more on the way. So, please do me a solid and check it out.
Now, on with the words…
SIDE A:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Neon Nightmare – “They Look Like Shadows”
The mystery is over, folks. The veil has been lifted on Type-O Negative worship act Neon Nightmare, and the mastermind behind their phenomenal debut LP, Faded Dream (out now through 20 Buck Spin), is none other than Spirit Adrift’s big-riff-lord and F.O.T.S. Nate Garrett.
Now, for those who actually paid attention to the group’s debut single, “Lost Silver,” this is hardly a surprise (and I’d also like to note that I called this from Day One). But it’s still cool to hear Nate expand his sonic palette and pour his heart and soul into something this blissfully heavy (and outright horny). Watch the bloodsucking video for “They Look Like Shadows” below:
Dropsaw – Revive
NCHC hardcore legends Dropsaw are back from the dead and roaring into second life with a blistering four-track EP. Revive was recorded by Joe Andersons at Woodriver Studios, mixed by Taylor Young at The Pit, and is out now through the good folks over at Last Ride Records. Fans of All Out War, 100 Demons, and Mindsnare should get around this ASAP. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Blue Vedder – “Morning Light”
Alt-rockers Blue Vedder have an EP dropping later this week. , FAREWELL.GOODBYE. was produced with Joe Agius (RINSE, Hatchie, The Creases) and finds the Naarm/Melbourne trio mining notable several influences, including Fontaines D.C., Garbage, Curve, and Chapterhouse.
If you’re in the market for moody, atmospheric alt-rock, this is one to watch out for, but my highlight is the gorgeous “Morning Light,” which packages the group’s sound through a decidedly shoegaze/dream-pop filter. Listen to “Morning Light” here.
Grief Ritual – Collapse
Birmingham unit Grief Ritual are teaming up with the good folks over at Church Road Records for the release of their bludgeoning debut full-length Collapse (out January 31st).
Much of the record’s material has already been battle-tested in support of groups like Knocked Loose, Terror, Gatecreeper, END, and Fuming Mouth, with the four-piece taking aim at “the anger, frustration, and disenfranchisement they feel about the UK and the wider world” Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Blood Command – “We Could Be Heaven”
Norwegian/Aussie “deathpop” party rockers Blood Command aren’t slowly down any time soon. Following the release of 2023’s World Domination LP, the group announced their signing to the Arising Empire roster and celebrated the launch of a catchy new standalone single.
“We Could Be Heaven” delivers on what the band does best: “A dark, pop-punk punch, exploring the cost of following one's heart — even to one's demise.” And it looks like we’ll be getting a new record in 2025, too. We could be so lucky. Listen to “We Could Be Heaven” here.
SIDE B:
More tracks for you. Deep cuts for the real heads. Still cool.
Ethel Cain – Perverts
I remember reading about Ethel Cain’s 2022 debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, a few months after its release and being utterly captivated by her rawness and stark melancholy. What’s even more interesting is where the American dark pop songstress looks to be taking her sound.
New project (note that it’s curiously not billed as an “album”) Perverts (due out on January 8th) will reportedly span 90 minutes and explore the songwriter’s “furthest afield inspirations and sonic negative space” through drone, noise, and ambient textures. As for Cain’s thematic motivations?
“I wonder how deep shame can run, and how unforgivable an act could be that I may still justify it in some bent way to make carrying it more bearable. Would I tell myself it’s not my fault and I couldn’t help myself? Would anyone truly believe that? Would I?”
Stream the project’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Identity Error – “Atrophy”
Earlier this year, I saw young Naarm/Melbourne heavy hitters Identity Error support Terminal Sleep, and they absolutely crushed it. While it’s clear that the group are indebted to the melody and chaos of the 00s metalcore revival sound, what sets them apart is their emphasis on physical momentum and crowd involvement.
In writing their latest single, the group wanted to channel their fast-paced energy and have “lots of participation parts, so with that in mind, this had to be a song that would make people move.” Watch the clip for “Atrophy” below:
Mogwai – The Bad Fire
Post-rock titans Mogwai are back with a new album, and this one is their eleventh(!). The Bad Fire (out January 24th through Rock Action Records) takes its name from a working-class Glaswegian term for Hell (word) and was produced by John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós). According to the album’s Bandcamp bio:
“The music of Mogwai is a difficult thing to describe but an easy thing to experience. At punishing volume, it can annihilate your body, leaving you as little more than a head which should by rights fall helplessly to the ground. Yet the music contains an updraft, a sense of beauty encased in the onslaught. This holds you up, suspended and empowered, reminding you that paradise is your birthright.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
FEATURE ALBUM(S):
A closer, more in-depth look at new record(s) that tick my boxes.
Planes Mistaken For Stars – Do You Still Love Me?
There’s a line in “Dying by Degrees” by Planes Mistaken For Stars, taken from 2004’s Up In Them Guts—one of my favourite records of all time—which I’ve been ruminating on for days now:
“Our histories, they hold no apologies/
And how we suffer what we can’t, what we won’t, let go!”
There’s something about the universality of this aphorism—to work, to politics, to love, to the profound struggle of the human condition—and how frontman Gared O’Donnell’s strained, whiskey-soaked delivery perfectly encapsulates the grim acceptance that undergirds this general truth: The past may be immutable and ephemeral, but it’s rarely silent.
This idea animates my listening experience of Do You Still Love Me?, Planes’ fifth album and their first since O’Donnell’s tragic passing in 2021, along with founding guitarist Matt Bellinger in 2017.
I’ve previously described this record as a “howling cry of catharsis pitched into the great beyond,” and I stand by that. But more than just a harrowing wail of grief and loss, DYSLM? is also an eerie and prescient affirmation of a theme O’Donnell ruminated on twenty years earlier:
The dead speak to us. Will we listen?
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify