Weekly Roundup: November 6th
Weekly Roundup: November 6th
Featuring Foreign Hands, Codeseven, Mother Mother, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Codeseven – “Hold Tight”
In recent comeback news, seminal North Carolina melodic hardcore outfit Codeseven have announced their first studio album in 19 years (!). It's titled Go Let It In, and the new LP drops on December 1st through Equal Vision Records. The group were active throughout the US Southeast in the 90s, acting as a profound influence on members of Underoath, Beloved, and many more. On their return, the band states:
“With this new record, we tackled what we considered the ultimate challenge: to write and record a full length that sounds as good, if not better, than the last record. Following a 20-year hiatus, this felt like it could be impossible. It’s hard to beat time and nostalgia but we certainly wanted to try. And yes, we think we did.”
Watch the video for “Hold Tight” below:
Ozone – Shutting You Down
Are you a fan of 80s NYHC? Are you looking for someone to take that grimy, urban feel of concrete chaos and retool it for the modern era? Well, look no further than Fort Worth’s hardcore crew Ozone and their four-track EP, Shutting You Down, the band’s newest effort for the good folks over at New Morality Zine. As “torchbearers of their FWHC scene,” the Texan outfit are embracing a feel-good, no-frills approach: think big drums, hard riffs, and real-deal lyricism. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
SPECTRES – “The Old Regime”
I first came across Canadian outfit SPECTRES through their 2021 Hindsight LP and its stark take on the classic 80s postpunk sound: The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, etc. The British Columbia-based quintet have dropped a shiny new single, “The Old Regime”: a frosty slice of darkwave goodness anchored by catchy pop melodies and Brian Gustavson’s deep croon. The track will feature on the band’s forthcoming record, Presence, due on March 15th through Artoffact Records. Listen to “The Old Regime” here.
King – Fury and Death
On the heavy side, we’ve got the upcoming third studio album from Melbourne/Naarm blackened metal force King. With long-time live bass player Tim Anderson added to their permanent line-up, Fury and Death is the group’s first outing as a quartet. The album represents a further progression of their unrelenting, melancholic sound, at once cold, brittle and uplifting. And, for all my Wordle heads, the record also has a song titled “Crepuscular” (an adjective for ‘resembling or relating to twilight’). In a word… word. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Mother Mother – “The Matrix”
Here’s a new band on my radar, and I feel like I'm desperately out of the loop with this one, seeing as (according to the press bio) alt-pop rockers Mother Mother are already platinum certified artists with billions of streams and nearly 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify—wild shit. The band’s forthcoming full-length album, Grief Chapter, is set for release on February 16th, and according to vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Ryan Guldemond:
“Death and grief rooted themselves in these songs, but not morosely. It’s used more as a reference point for how to live more fully and presently. Life is fleeting; therefore, it’s precious, and death is the most effective way I know to frame this miracle of living.”
Live in the now and listen to their latest single, “The Matrix,” here.
Stay Inside – Ferried Away
Brooklyn emo rockers Stay Inside have revealed their latest LP, Ferried Away, due out on February 24th through independent release. The record features previous singles “A Backyard” and “An Invitation,” as well as the just-released “Sweet Stripe!”—all three are on some big early 2010s emo revival shit, much to my pleasure. On the album’s thematic angle, the band states:
“Tying the songs together is the concept of Steeplechase. Steeplechase Park was one of the original Coney Island amusement parks that burned down in 1907. To many New Yorkers, Coney is a fun and beautiful place that you’ve always wanted to visit but never make the time. This album lets the historical Steeplechase stand in for a sort of purgatory of memory where the people you love live between the last time you see them and either of your deaths.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Foreign Hands – “Conditioned for a Head-On Collision”
Following 2022’s Bleed The Dream EP and the two-track Lucid Noise release, heavy-hitters Foreign Hands are finally back with a new single for SharpTone Records. “Conditioned for a Head-On Collision” has produced by mastermind Will Putney and fuses the group’s metalcore roots with captivating post-hardcore tendencies alongside a huge guest feature from Static Dress frontman Olli Appleyard. Speaking on the writing process, the band states:
“‘Conditioned…’ is a song that was written very collaboratively—three of us in a room just passing the guitar around for a few hours until we had a finished product. It’s definitely different for us: it has a lot of influence from post-hardcore bands like Thrice and Thursday, and we tried to put more of an emphasis on bringing outside influences that we hadn’t previously incorporated in our music.”
Watch the video for “Conditioned for a Head-On Collision” below:
PHONY – Heater
PHONY is the project of Neil Berthier, formerly of Donovan Wolfington and a current live member of Joyce Manor. Following 2022’s well-received At Some Point You Stop, Berthier is now prepping his full-length follow-up, Heater, due out on November 10th via Counter Intuitive Records. The record is billed as a “timeless, yet familiar” blend of raw emotion and undeniable hooks, with themes such as “mortality, overcoming the monotony of modern life and ultimately finding out who you are.” Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2023 CUTS playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Dying Wish – Symptoms of Survival
“We have all grown significantly as people, not just as a band, in the last three years since we wrote Fragments [of a Bitter Memory (2021)],” said Dying Wish frontwoman Emma Boster in a recent interview with the Heaviest of Art blog.
“We found a new place in the world and within ourselves, so the understanding of our role within our healing and our journey with music has taken on a more mature perspective.”
The group’s stellar second full-length album, Symptoms of Survival, is anything but a sophomore slump: it's a complete level-up in every way possible, with the quintet operating at the peak of their powers.
This growth is most present on the album’s redemptive mid-point, the epic ballad “Paved In Sorrow,” a deeply “emotional song” written by Boster for her younger sister. Elsewhere, like on the breakdown-laden album closer “Lost In the Fall,” the band fuse their metalcore roots with operatic notes and sombre melodies, heightening their destructive intensity and honing it into a weapon of emotional precision.
Stream here: Spotify | YouTube
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
We did it, folks. We published our 100th episode of The Pitch pod! To celebrate, Paige and I strolled down memory lane to recap our Top 10 Most Listened episodes for our inaugural “Centennial Special.” It’s a fun time and a great primer for the show if you’re yet to indulge. You can check it out in full below: