Weekly Roundup: October 9th
Weekly Roundup: October 9th
Featuring Press Club, SLIFT, Sunk Loto, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Sunk Loto – “The Gallows Wait”
Well, I didn’t expect a new Sunk Loto track to drop in 2023 and completely kick my ass, but here we are. It’s a ferocious return for the Aussie alt-metal pioneers, kickstarting their new chapter with the addition of fourth member, Rohan Stevenson. The quartet will be touring nationally in the coming weeks, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their seminal second studio album, Between Birth and Death. As frontman Jason Brown puts it:
“Feels like a dream coming back with new music for our fans after a 20-year absence… I feel like we can bring something to the heavy music scene that has been missing. I can’t wait to share our first song back and a new album to follow. Really happy to be thanking our fans by playing Between Birth and Death in full after 20 years of unwavering loyalty.”
Watch the video for “The Gallows Wait” below:
Going Off – Pay The Price b/w Bed of Concrete
I featured Manchester hardcore punk crew Going Off in Heavy Mettle back in February for their debut full-length, What Makes You Tick?, which dropped earlier in the year through the good folks at Church Road Records. That record was chock full of thoroughly angry, pissed-off hardcore with relentless energy and strong socio-cultural lyrical themes. This formula continues on the band’s latest release, which finds them embracing some ignorant beatdown tendencies (much to my pleasure). Stream the two-track in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
The Cruelty – “Hand in Hand”
Here’s a shiny new band on my radar: Bay area post-hardcore outfit The Cruelty, who are sharing their latest single, “Hand in Hand.” The group are pulling influence from staples of the iconic 2000s sound—At The Drive-In, Armor For Sleep, Mineral, and Pianos Become The Teeth—and working towards their debut full-length, due out sometime in 2024. It’s a great tune with interesting dynamics and an excellent outro. More, please. Listen to “Hand in Hand” here.
Leatherman – Telephone b/w Tryin' 2 4get
Another new band that I've been excited to feature is Melbourne/Naarm rockers Leatherman. The quintet (who feature members of Clowns) will drop their debut 7-inch on October 18th through Legless Records. Expect snotty vocals, big riffs and bouncy rhythms. But I’ll let their impeccable press bio do the heavy lifting:
“The new kids on the block, LEATHERMAN, a hard-rockin’, power poppin’ band of five lunatics on a mission to bust ears, flow tears, steal beer and make a party. This band exists to exorcise pop demons, slug guitarmonies, howl melodies, and churn heavy metal riffs/rhythms. Think The Exploding Hearts, The Shivvers, Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest all wailing on each other in the street—powerful and chaotic rockin’ that ain’t afraid of a little cheese.”
Stream the 7-inch’s pre-release single here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
LUNE – “Progeny”
Melbourne/Naarm metalcore bruisers LUNE are now part of the Resist Records roster and have celebrated the news with two announcements: the release of their wild new single “Progeny” and their upcoming sophomore EP release for The Change Around Us & The Change In You out on November 10th. “Progeny” is thematically linked to their 2019 single “Manipulator,” with lyrical explorations of family violence. As vocalist Nathaniel Smith explains:
“Family ties are often used as an excuse not to hold someone accountable for their behaviour. The title ‘Progeny’ came from the fear that, in some way, negative traits are hereditary, and there's this vehement refusal to take on the negative qualities of a toxic family member. We are not the failings of our family or the things we have experienced. You owe it to yourself to unlearn all of the things that harmed you and the unhealthy schemas that were put in place as a result of your environment in an effort to survive.”
Listen to “Progeny” here.
NOBRO – Set Your Pussy Free
Montreal new-age punk outfit NOBRO have announced their debut album, Set Your Pussy Free, out October 27th via Dine Alone Records. The record is a raucous blast of 21st-century power punk raging against “modern life’s restrictive pressures.” Iggy Pop is a fan, and a fictional band in the Netflix series The Imperfects covered their songs. The album was produced by Dave Schiffman (PUP, Rage Against The Machine) and recorded live off the cuff, with all four members playing at the same time, warts and all. That real deal, punk rock shit. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Press Club – “No Pressure”
Speaking of great records I’ve featured before, Melbourne/Naarm punk rockers Press Club are following up their stellar 2022 LP, Endless Motion, with a brand new single. It's called “No Pressure,” and it “centres on the notion that all outcomes, but particularly those pertaining to creativity, are better when you don't take yourselves too seriously.” The group will also be playing the track on a national tour of the same name as they hit dates across the East Coast with support from Loser, Mac the Knife, and Placement. Watch the video for “No Pressure” below:
SLIFT – ILION
I first came across French psych rockers trio SLIFT in 2020 through the release of their 2020 record UMMON and its super eye-catching artwork. It was a towering, dense record that featured walls of guitars, intricate layering, and complex song structures, but the band's follow-up ILION (out January 19th through Sub Pop) promises to be even more of a ride. According to their press bio:
“Nothing in [SLIFT's] already-estimable catalogue could prepare you for ILION, a huge-sounding and melodically dense record that at once recalls Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s perpetually uplifting surge, the passionate burn of post-hardcore legends …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Led Zep’s psychotic blues-rock mysticism, and the psychedelic swirl of Swedish experimental greats Goat.”
Their new album is conceived in the style of “Homeric story,” pairing instrumental grandiosity with representations of “the fall of humanity and the rebirth of all things in time and space.” 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.
Svalbard – The Weight of the Mask
I’m firmly of the opinion that the very best of heavy music operates perilously on the margins of human experience. Anger, rage, aggression and darkness are palpable emotions, universally understood, and incredible motivators all of their own. But every now and again, the more vulnerable emotions take hold—self-loathing, heartbreak, fear, loneliness, anxiety, alienation—to yield something truly powerful and sublime.
Such is the case for The Weight of the Mask: the fourth LP from Brighton metallers Svalbard and their debut for the prestigious Nuclear Blast roster. As the group’s follow-up to 2020’s well-received When I Die, Will I Get Better?, their new record packages their molten mix of metal, hardcore and blackgaze into transcendent moments of thrashy intensity and lush soundscapes.
And yet, it’s guitarist/vocalist (and friend of the show) Serena Cherry who pushes the band into unfamiliar depths with a cutting lyrical exploration of depression and disconnection from the world around her. It’s raw, unflinching, and utterly devastating in ways that can become profoundly hopeful and uplifting in steady, measured hands.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Michael Meinecke, frontman for Brisbane/Meanjin heavy-hitters Knuckledragger, joined The Pitch pod last week as they gear up to drop their debut LP, Different Breed… through their own Burning Hammer Records later this month. Mick walks us through the band’s formation and the writing process behind their upcoming record before running through a Hit List of prime heaters covering hardcore, metal and all kinds of sonic weirdness in between. We chat about vocal intensity, the risks and rewards of music DVD discovery, and the difficulty of penning hardcore love songs. Check it out in full below: