New Music Report – July 23, 2021
I know I’ve been kind of off schedule with my new music posts lately but I’m kinda digging this posting two updates once every two weeks thing. At least for now, mid-summer is always a kind of slow time for album releases, so it just kinda makes sense to do it this way. At least for the next few weeks, I’m tracking 8 releases for August 13th, so I’ll probably break things out into individual weeks again then. Anyway, a couple really interesting releases this week that I’d highly recommend checking out, stay tuned for more soon.
Sleeper Waker – This band is sick, they fit in very well with the new wave of metalcore bands with some more technical, almost nu-metal-y elements like Silent Planet, Northlane, etc. Of course, in that same vein, that means it does make it a little harder for them to stand out amongst contemporaries that are frankly incredible. Which makes my summary of this album a little weird. It’s incredible, it hits so hard, the concept is pretty cool, and the musicianship is unreal. I love this album. But in a sea of other new technical metalcore bands (some of them are using the label post-metalcore, but I’m not ready for that one just yet) it almost becomes forgettable simply because of the incredible level of musicianship and mastery of the genre. It’s so good, but it draws within the lines almost a little too well in a way that I know Silent Planet and others won’t. So, I’ll spin this album until the new SP album drops and be perfectly happy about it.
Capstan – This album is so weird, it’s trying to be SO many different things at once, and I can’t necessarily say it’s bad at it, but it’s a lot to process. One second, it’s like, djent, another its pop punk, another it’s a weird electronicore breakdown. Very strange. But I kinda dig it. I guess the average here would put it somewhere within post hardcore. Now, this isn’t like one of those albums that’s just chock full of several very diverse and eclectic sounds, it’s more like a compilation of several distinct genres, but somehow it never really sounds messy. Some of the transitions can be a bit jarring, but for the most part they accomplish the blend remarkably well. I’m actually really shocked at how good this album is cause on paper it should be pure chaos. But the guitar work is phenomenal, the vocal work is top notch, and the pop hooks interspersed among metalcore chugging is incredibly well written. Again, no idea how this makes sense, but this really is a remarkable album.
Singles/Albums – Coheed & Cambria (Prog Rock), Quicksand (Post-Hardcore), Between the Buried & Me (Progressive Metal), Spirit Breaker (Metalcore), Hawthrone Heights (Post-Hardcore feat. Brendan from Counterparts), Carnifex (Deathcore), Bullet for my Valentine (Metalcore), Venues (Metalcore), Attila (LP, Metalcore, this isn’t going on my playlist, sorry), Descendents (LP, Punk)