EDITOR’S NOTE: Hey, look at that. I'm late once again. I’m trying to head to BigSound 2024 this week, and my laptop also decided to kick the bucket simultaneously. So it goes.
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Emmy Mack is a bonafide rockstar. With their forthcoming full-length, Mutation, locked and loaded (and arriving on November 22nd), the RedHook frontwoman and formidable firebrand is well on her way to becoming a household name. Emmy joined the show last week to chat about the band’s “outsider” status, the challenges of being a woman in heavy music, industry shenanigans, the group’s desire for evolution on their sophomore LP, and how she reclaimed her feminine superpower by embracing sexuality, vulnerability, and brutal honesty. Check it out below:
Additionally, if you like what I do here, signing up for the TPD Patreon is the best way to support me, support the show, and help keep the lights on.
We’ve got perks and fun stuff over there, with more on the way, so please do me a solid and check it out. *salute emoji*
Now, on with the words…
SIDE A:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Ceres – “Britney Spears”
After dropping a slew of teaser singles, Naarm/Melbourne rockers Ceres have announced their new album, MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1996—2022), due out on October 4th via Cooking Vinyl Australia. The sprawling 25-track double album is the band’s first record in five years, an ambitious undertaking and a profoundly personal one, chronicling:
“Singer/songwriter Tom Lanyon’s deeply personal journey of rediscovery, nostalgia, patience, heartache, and joy. From his move back to his roots atop Melbourne’s Mt. Dandenong to his agonising journey through a four-year battle to conceive a child, to the agony and heartache of a miscarriage, and the life-affirming joy of pregnancy and fatherhood finally realised.”
The latest single, “Britney Spears”, showcases multi-instrumentalist Stacey Cicivelli’s powerful vocals and gorgeous vocal harmonies with Lanyon as they narrate a nostalgic trip around the lush magic mountain. Watch the video for “Britney Spears” below:
Blisspoint – DOG
Here’s another glorious new find thanks to the mighty YouTube algorithm. On their Bandcamp profile, Brooklyn outfit Blisspoint cheekily group themselves under some potentially non-existent subgenre tags like “slamgaze,” “post-vape,” and “synthcore.” The NY trio’s new full-length is titled DOG (all caps; very important) and drops on November 22nd through Candlepin Records. According to the band: “We all know what it feels like to have a bit of that DOG in us…” Amen. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Tumour – “Spread Thin”
Naarm/Melbourne death metallers Tumour are embarking on a South East Asia tour run in early October, so it makes sense that they’ve dropped a raging new track to show off the vicious pipes of new frontman Dan New (formerly of Plovers). The group’s latest single is taken from their forthcoming split release with Wollongong’s Burn In Hell, due out on Reason and Rage Records in the same month. Listen to “Spread Thin” here.
BIG ASS TRUCK – THE FUCKIN’ PROMO
So, there’s a band called BIG ASS TRUCK. They hail from San Bernardino, California, and they play self-described “REAL FUCK YOU MUSIC.” On their 2024 demo, called BIG ASS DEMO, which dropped back in March, they had song titles like “BIG ASS DOG,” “BEEF,” and “CORN-FED.” Now they have a new two-track promo out, and this one is called THE FUCKIN’ PROMO. Any questions? Stream the promo in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
New Miserable Experience – “Not Every Whispered Promise Is True”
We’ve got another new single from bedroom synth rockers and F.O.T.S. New Miserable Experience. The supergroup—who feature members of underground metal mainstays like Rosetta, Model Prisoner, Revocation and Rivers of Nihil—will drop their debut full-length album, Absent Lovers, later this year through the good folks at Translation Loss Records on October 11th. Listen to “Not Every Whispered Promise Is True” here.
SIDE B:
More tracks for you. Deep cuts for the real heads. Still cool.
CŒUR À L’INDEX – Adieu Minette
I found Brussels’ CŒUR À L’INDEX through Bandcamp’s New & Notable recommendations, and their mixture of brash power-pop and furious punk delivery was incredibly endearing. The trio’s 8-track LP, Adieu Minette, will arrive on September 13th through La Vida Es Un Mus, and it’s billed as “An instant sugar rush with a bubblegum flavour … their debut LP has bounce, it’s upbeat, and it’s the perfect calling card.” Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Hammok – “One Minute”
Oslo noise rockers Hammok have come through with a new reflective, mid-tempo rocker after the raucous burst of their debut album, Look How Long Lasting Everything Is Moving Forward For Once, which Norwegian label Fysisk Format dropped back in March. As the band states:
“The song is a collection of thoughts, feelings and observations throughout travelling and playing shows over the past two years. Both the good and the bad. So here it is, presented in isolation, the odd one out. NO SCREAMS THIS TIME!!!!!!!!”
Watch the clip for “One Minute” below:
Anciients – Beyond The Reach of the Sun
File this under “incredible album artwork draws the eye and persuades the ear.” Beyond the Reach of the Sun, the third LP from Canadian progressive metallers Anciients (with two i’s; very important), dropped their last week through Season of Mist. After eight years, the Vancouver group have returned with a new lineup and album that stands as their “heaviest, headiest and most heartfelt offering.” FFO chugging riffs, blazing solos, and epic synths: Mastodon, Baroness, and Opeth. Stream the album in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
FEATURE ALBUM:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Nails – Every Bridge Burning
Do I really need to sell you on this? Nails, the extreme metal project of founding vocalist and guitarist Todd Jones, is back after eight long years with a newly retooled lineup and an absolutely devastating batch of incendiary material.
If you have the balls to call your record Every Bridge Burning, then you better bring the heat, and trust me, this one plays like a fucking pipebomb. Big riffs, pissed vocals, ample double-kick gallop, and a smattering of blazing solos tucked away in the back end that would make Eddie Van Halen smirk in his grave. Hell yeah.
Stream here: Spotify