Weekly Roundup: October 16th
Featuring Spiritbox, Many Eyes, Thornhill, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Thornhill – “Viper Room”
With the release of their ARIA Award-nominated Heroine album last year, Melbourne/Naarm outfit Thornhill took a pivot from spacey metalcore heaviness into the gutter-grime of theatrical Muse-adjacent rock, and it fit them like a velvet glove. “Viper Room” is the first taste of new material following that record, and it’s a sexed-up rock number with pulsing rhythms, fat bass notes and swaggering vocals. As the band states, the single channels “a one-sided urge to keep pursuing an individual out of stubborn lust and fear, even when given [an] explicit warning to move on.” Watch the video for “Viper Room” below:
Trauma Ray and Downward – Split
In the first of many team-ups for this week, I want to spotlight the new split EP from like-minded alt-rockers Trauma Ray and Downward out now through New Morality Zine. I first came across Tulsa’s Downward through their 2022 EP, The Brass Tax, which was dope. As for the Texans in Trauma Ray, they’ve been on my radar for a while, and I've been anxiously waiting for new material, so this feels like a perfect combination on paper. According to the label’s press bio:
“What seems to be years in the making, alternative rock bands TRAUMA RAY and DOWNWARD bring you a split for the ages. The split features two new tracks from each band that showcase the sonic breadth available in an oversimplified genre.”
Stream the split EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Many Eyes – “Revelation”
It’s been some time since we’ve heard from former Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley following the band’s messy dissolution at the end of 2021. Well, Keith is back with a new project titled Many Eyes, and it finds him collaborating with brothers guitarist Charlie and drummer Nick Bellmore (Jasta, Kingdom of Sorrow, Corpsegrinder). The project’s debut single, “Revelation,” is a furious blend of metallic hardcore and 90s alternative sounds, anchored by one of Keith’s best-ever chorus hooks. The track will be featured on the group’s upcoming debut album, which will be executive-produced by Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta and released on his own label, Perseverance Records. Listen to “Revelation” here.
STUMPS – Arcadia
Sydney outfit STUMPS are gearing up for the release of their second full-length album. It’s titled Arcadia, and it drops on January 19th next year through Cooking Vinyl Australia. The trio’s new record was produced by Fletcher Matthews (Trophy Eyes, Adam Newling, The Buoys), and it promises to be twelve tracks of fun and bubbly indie-rock in the vein of acts like Two Door Cinema Club and Phoenix. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Full of Hell and Nothing – “Spend The Grace”
This week’s second team-up comes in the form of a full-blown collaborative album from kitchen-sink grinders Full of Hell and heavy shoegazers Nothing. The record is titled When No Birds Sang and has a release scheduled for December 1st through Closed Casket Activities. Both bands have crossed paths throughout the 2010s, sharing show spots and festival bills, and their collaborative LP finds them building “a new ‘wall of sound’ in the middle,” where harsh ambience collides headfirst into lush, pedal-powered tendencies—an ambitious exercise in extreme contrast inspired by noise purveyors My Bloody Valentine and latter-day Swans. Listen to “Spend The Grace” here.
Carnal Viscera and CHOOF – Big Dumb Monsters
The final team-up for this week is an Aussie doubleheader featuring NSW extreme metallers Carnal Viscera and “bong blasting, Sabbath-worshipping grind from Hell” outfit CHOOF. Both bands are currently hitting the road together as part of their Big Dumb Monsters tour, and they’ve dropped a three-track EP to celebrate their violently consummated union. Also (and this was my major drawcard for the release), the EP features absolutely unhinged album artwork from the legendary Deadly Prey Gallery, which promotes incredible bootleg film posters from Ghanaian artists. Stream the split EP in full here (Spotify).
Spiritbox – “Cellar Door”
This week also saw the release of another new heater from metalcore monsters Spiritbox from their forthcoming EP, The Fear of Fear (out on November 3rd via Rise Records/Pale Chord). Their latest track follows on from the previous single, “Jaded,” which was a catchy track bolstered by vocalist Courtney LaPlante’s soaring clean register and formidable heavy screams. This new tune, however, double-downs on the group’s profound heaviness in line with their viral smash hit and breakdown bulldozer, “Holy Roller,” taken from their massively successful 2021 debut LP, Eternal Blue. Watch the video for “Cellar Door” below:
Deliquesce – Cursed With Malevolence
Aussie death metallers Deliquesce have announced their debut album, Cursed With Malevolence, set for release November 17th via DAZE. The record was self-produced and mixed by guitarist Adrian Cappelletti at his studio in Melbourne, and it features seven tracks of brutal, slamming death metal that doesn’t sacrifice bone-crushing intensity for technical complexity and instrumental chops. Listeners can expect demonic guttural vocals, pummelling drums, and mathy time signatures. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/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.
The Menzingers – Some Of It Was True
I have a deep, fervent love for Philly powerhouse The Menzingers. Their 2010s output—particularly 2012’s outstanding On the Impossible Past—soundtracked a huge portion of my mid-to-late 20s: lots of drinking, lots of loving, some living, and mostly feeling adrift as an adult caught in the vagaries of modern life.
Some Of It Was True, the group’s seventh LP, out now through Epitaph Records, is a sprawling and wistful addition to their already stellar catalogue, one born out of the punk rock tradition and nodding to the legacy of Americana’s great singer-songwriters. It’s a record chock full of emotional heft—nostalgia, love, and tragedy; ageing, growing-up, and forlorn feelings; resignation and bittersweet acceptance—exemplified best, I feel, by the heartfelt lyrics to the title track:
“The older I get, the less I know/And I knew nothing then.”
…
“Nostalgia’s never quite as it seems/Rose-colored glasses on everything.
Sparkle like a diamond ring/I’m so sick of playing pretend.
Thinking everything was better back then/It's hard to remember the bad parts/I thought that I knew it all."
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Last week’s episode of The Pitch pod featured John Nolan, guitarist/vocalist for Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run. As a huge TBS fan from way back, this was a huge bucket list opportunity for me, and I was incredibly stoked to talk about music with someone who drastically influenced my personal taste for the past fifteen years. John and I chat about TBS’s new record, 152, weathering pandemic anxiety, jamming on cover songs, and unlikely collaborators in the form of Steve Aoki and producer Tushar Apte. Check it out in full below: