Weekly Roundup: September 6th
Featuring Jail Socks, Whitechapel, Guilt Trip, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
WAAX – “Most Hated Girl”
After the release of their all-conquering debut record, 2019’s Big Grief, Brisbane indie-rockers WAAX are back with a new high-energy single. “Most Hated Girl” finds live-wire frontwoman Marie “Maz” DeVita reflecting on her youth and the pitfalls of mental health and adulthood over a catchy, self-deprecating chorus. It’s classic WAAX and it rocks. Watch the video for “Most Hated Girl” below:
High Desert Queen – Secrets of the Black Moon
Texas might be a regressive political hellscape right now, but thankfully Austin rockers High Desert Queen are coming through with the goods on their studio debut, Secrets of the Black Moon (out October 15 through Ripple Music). Recorded with Jeff Henson (Duel), the album’s pre-release material pulls equally from influences like QOTSA and Elder, perfectly balancing bluesy licks with spacey riffage. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Guilt Trip – “Fraction of Time”
Manchester heavy hardcore outfit Guilt Trip have dropped their latest raucous single, “Fraction of Time.” Set to feature on the group’s forthcoming EP, Rain City, the new track is a sledgehammer banger with tectonic mosh parts and beatdown fury and that should easily appease white-knuckled fans of Harms Way, Disembodied and crowd-killing for fun. Listen to “Fraction of Time” here.
Outer Heaven – In Tribute…
Pennsylvanian death metallers Outer Heaven have been fairly quiet since the release of 2018’s crushing Realms Of Eternal Decay. With only a Flexi single and a live album to tie over their fan hordes, the band’s latest covers EP, In Tribute…, might comes across as a disappointment for its lack of new material. However, the release more than makes up for this disparity with five vile renditions of some of extreme metal’s finest acts, including Repulsion, Morbid Angel, Pig Destroyer, Mortician and Death. Stream the full EP here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Jail Socks – “Sick Weather”
I’ve seen North Carolina trio Jail Socks get a lot of online hype recently, and after listening to their debut album, Coming Down, I totally get it. “Sick Weather” exemplifies the band’s approach to their emotionally resonant and effortlessly catchy alternative emo/pop-punk hybrid: bright verses, upbeat handclaps, cathartic backing screams, all bolstered by vocalist Aidan Yoh’s delicate and affecting croon. Listen to “Sick Weather” here.
Sugar Horse – The Live Long After
I have the good folks over at Sydney label powerhouse Art As Catharsis for introducing me to Bristol noise merchants Sugar Horse. Their promo speel for the group’s latest release, The Live Long After, described the album as a “caustic, visceral, and highly engaging listen,” and that’s one hell of an understatement. Towering crescendos collapse and dissolve into murky feedback rubble, distant voices echo and reverberate into the expansive void, and instrumental passages swing wildly from post-hardcore to doom and sludge with flawless transitions. Stream the full LP here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Whitechapel – “Lost Boy”
Of all the band’s that rose to prominence during the deathcore explosion of the mid-2000s, Knoxville sextet Whitechapel have had the most captivating musical evolution. The songwriting gap between the Jack The Ripper fan-fic of 2007’s The Somatic Defilement and the haunting digression into familial trauma on 2019’s The Valley is nothing short of breathtaking, and on their latest single “Lost Boy,” the Tennessee outfit continue to push the envelope for extreme metal. The track pairs blast-beat cavalcades and ripping guitar solos with pretty instrumental interludes and Phil Bozeman’s indomitable vocal performance. Watch the video for “Lost Boy” below:
D.O.G. – ANTI
One afternoon, YouTube’s algorithm randomly spat out the blistering video for D.O.G.’s “In Memoriam” and it made me go “Woah, what the hell is this?!?” And in my line of work, that’s what we call a ‘win,’ folks. The East Coast metalcore band’s six-track ANTI EP is a pummelling metalcore monster—think Knocked Loose covering Botch and Glassjaw and a room full of hardcore kids killing themselves to it. Yep, it rules. Stream the full EP here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2021 VIBING playlist, updated weekly.
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