New Music Report – January 29, 2021
Eclectic mix of new music this week. I’d say there’s something for everybody here but that isn’t necessarily true. All of these albums are fantastic but, aside from perhaps Lucero, cater to very niche audiences. If you’re looking for something that’s a bit of a challenge to listen to but with incredibly rewarding results, then this week is for you.
Lucero – Back in 2008/09 there was a very strong, very niche hype around a specific type of americana-tinged folk punk, influenced mostly by The Gaslight Anthem’s ’59 Sound, of course. And I fell VERY deep down that rabbit hole. And Memphis-based country punk band, Lucero, is one of the best things I have to show for it. This band will always have a special place in my heart, especially their earlier albums, the ones that sound like they were recorded in a buddy’s garage with a single microphone. They had a soulful, authentic, simplistic charm that just created this grand ideal of a time and place that probably never existed outside of their albums. Their past few albums evolved beyond that, leaning hard into the soul aspect of their style, adding horn sections, gospel choirs, and other elaborate arrangements, it lost a little of what I fell in love with, but it was undeniably good. The newest album, changes up the formula again, adding some synths and evolving past a gritty, down home punk band, into something that more closely resembles classic rock. But the charm, the honesty, the grand, yet smooth execution that are all part of Lucero’s charm are back, stronger than ever.
The Body – Man, I don’t even know what to tell you this album even is. At its core, people say The Body is a doom metal band, or at least derives from one. But that doesn’t even begin to tell the story, they take the bass-driven droning sound of doom and absolutely mutilate it into some avant garde, post-everything shitshow that’s absolutely brilliant. It sounds like a 40-minute long car crash. An onslaught of throbbing, compressed bass that strains your ear drums laying the foundation for incessant clanging, crashing, and metal deforming and twisting beyond any conceptual recognition of where this sound might have come from. All this interspersed with distorted, indecipherable, desperate shrieks. And the result, I mean, Jesus, what a record. It’s entirely unique in its execution. It sounded exactly like how I described it. It doesn’t sound like an album, it sounds like an accident, and I couldn’t stop listening to it. It’s not something I’m going to listen to all the time, it’s too abstract and frankly exhausting to listen to very frequently. But the experience itself was incredibly exciting.
Portrayal of Guilt – This album was a really cool surprise, in the past year and half, Portrayal of Guilt have put out three EPs, so I wasn’t really expecting them to have a full length ready so soon, but I guess with the quarantine going on, there isn’t much else for a band to do than make new music. These guys have been absolutely on fire, built up with tons of underground hype ever since the release of their debut full length just 2 years ago, earning themselves comparisons to absolutely legendary bands like Converge along the way. They’ve been dubbed one of the leaders of the screamo revival movement by everyone from NPR to The Washington Post, curiously enough. And I guess screamo is somewhat accurate but that REALLY doesn’t tell the whole story. Their sound is pure chaos, with a foundation of very clear screamo influences from bands like Pg.99 mixed with everything from noise punk to straight up hardcore. Add to that some howling vocals reminiscent of black metal. The result is an incredibly unique testament to the diversity and brutality of heavy music and a truly inspiring listen.
Singles – The ’68 (post-The Chariot Josh Scogin), Long Distance Calling (German post-metal), Devil Sold His Soul (post metal/screamo), Chelsea Wolfe & Emma Ruth Rundle (Everything I’ve ever been waiting for), Left to Suffer (metalcore/deathcore),
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New Music Report – January 22, 2021
I’m actually kinda of shocked with how much great new music is coming out already. Usually, January is a bit of a wasteland, but we’ve got some really cool stuff going on already. I think a lot of it is maybe anticipation; bands hoping to work back to some sort of normalcy at some point this year. Fingers crossed on that, but I’m very much enjoying the new music in the meantime.
Ellende EP – I know atmospheric black metal is a touchy subject for a lot of people. It absolutely blew up a handful of years ago thanks to bands like Deafheaven and Alcest, and since then it has spawned and absolutely endless pretenders and half-baked solo projects masquerading around as atmospheric black metal by musicians that can’t write melodies and don’t have proper recording equipment. But every once in a while, a band comes along that complete makes up for all the disappointment out there and raises the bar even higher for the genre as a whole. Ellende have been raising that bar for years, and this new EP is an even greater step forward. They deliver a remarkably complex, deep, and haunting mixture of the brutal and the ethereal, with crushing blast beats and echoey, pained black metal vocals juxtaposed against beautiful clean, post-rock inspired sections while absolutely never losing momentum. This is an incredibly strong, emotional, and gorgeous album that shows exactly what all the hype in the genre is about and what this sound is really capable of.
April Rain – This week is packed full of fairly obscure hits and honestly, I’m pretty happy about that. Post rock in particular is filled with so many hidden gems all over the world. I think one of the coolest things about post rock is that there is no language barrier. Most of it is instrumental, so the language is in the music; the music itself tells a story, conveys emotion, and is able to fluently converse with the listener no matter what language they speak, and I think that’s a fairly unique phenomenon with post rock. April Rain is a perfect example, this is a band from St. Petersburg, Russia, a band that I otherwise likely would have had zero connection with, but now, I can feel everything they felt as they wrote this music, and the result is a really beautiful experience. There’s so much depth and feeling to this fairly laid back yet incredibly gorgeous album. It’s not terribly complex, it isn’t rewriting the book on post rock and it isn’t an entirely unique spin on the genre, but it is a very, very enjoyable listen and an exemplary take on what good post rock sounds like.
Tr1rt3en – I generally don’t take requests for these posts. I write about music that interests me, and that I personally want to write about. That said, there are a few people out there I’ll break that rule for. This was one of those recommendations. Which is always fun cause I really am starting with a blank slate. And man, I’m not sure what my preconceived notions were going to this album, but this was a hell of an experience. Th1rt3en is a project by semi-obscure but long-running rapper, Pharaohe Monch, along with a live band. Pharoahe Monch has had a career spanning three decades, with a sparse but very high quality discography, and this new album is a sharp left-turn yet still relevant elaboration on his musically intelligent and thematically complex back catalog. And what a left turn it is, it’s actually quite ambitious writing a thoughtful rap-rock album and not have it sound like a limp bizkit-esq abomination. But I feel like the point is to create polarizing opinions on this one, but It’s incredibly thought provoking and deep. I was very pleasantly surprised by this album and is just further proof that sometimes it’s nice to step out of your comfort zone and listen to something new.
Everyone Dies in Utah EP – Yeah, ok so, I was kinda looking forward to this one. Everyone Dies in Utah is a semi-classic name in the metalcore scene, and there’s always a bit of a nostalgic wave that I get when one of those 2010 era metalcore bands comes back to the surface to do something again. Lower Definition has new music coming out, I’m super excited about that, Attack Attack! put out new music which is pretty neat, Like Moths to Flames had a great comeback. But man… This isn’t great haha. Maybe the rose tinted glasses didn’t hold up as well as I’d hoped, of many this just isn’t that great. See, it’s got all the pieces of something that could be a good album but it feels… Unfinished. Like, it’s got some cool structuring, great melodies, some of the vocals are pretty good but when you put it all together it still feels like about 60% of it is missing. This sounds like demos or pre-production takes to get ideas down for an album, rather than the finished piece. Oh well, it was worth a listen I suppose. Hopefully the new Lower Definition is way better.
Singles – August Burns Red (THE metalcore), Architects (Used to be ABR-tier metalcore, now dad metal but still good), Panopticon (atmospheric black metal), Bad Religion (punk)
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New Music Report – January 15, 2021
My new music posts are back for 2021! The start of the year was super slow, but it turns out a lot happened all at once, we have a few surprise albums, a ton of new singles, and a lot of exciting news about upcoming releases. Also, I have to be honest here for a second, the main website I used as my source for upcoming releases shut down as of January 1st, so that was quite stressful, but I’m back up and running, so these will continue as scheduled. Thank you all for joining me again, I’m looking forward to a ton of great new music for 2021.
Terminal Bliss EP – We’re starting the year off with an absolute ripper. This is a 10 song EP (I guess it counts as an EP?) that’s only 10 minutes long. This RVA band features members of Pg.99, City of Caterpillar, and Darkest Hour, which is just an absolute huge collection of iconic bands that helped mold the heavy music scene in DC/RVA and beyond back in the 90s and 00s. And man, it’s absolutely brutal. It’s just a rapid fire onslaught of quick and dirty hardcore. It sounds like the sort of thing you’d hear in a nasty basement show somewhere in DC about 20 years ago, so not only is the nostalgia factor high, but the pure chaotic energy is exactly what I want from this sort of music. So not only does it pay homage to the roots – and the basements – that these musicians came from, but it’s a perfect push forward into something that sound familiar but altogether new. These guys just formed last year, so of course they have not played any shows yet, but when they’re able to get out and play, I’ll be first in line. Music like this is made to be consumed in sweaty, shitty venues with terrible sound, and I can’t wait to go back.
Gatecreeper – This was a really excellent surprise album. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to have this much to write about this week, but Gatecreeper really put it over the edge. Now, this does feel like an ‘extra’, it doesn’t feel like a fully prepared and marketed album. Not in a bad way, of course, but it feels more experimental, more fun, and riskier than what you’d expect from a traditional album. This album really feels like it would be more at home and better consumed on vinyl, mostly due to the presentation of the tracks. The eight song album clocks in at only 18 minutes long, with the first seven tracks – or the Side A, as it functionally is – coming at you as an onslaught of death metal infused hardcore and grind tracks all coming in at about a minute long. This initial barrage is followed up by one of the most captivating 11 minute long doom tracks I’ve ever heard. The juxtaposition alone of these two fairly polarizing yet complimentary styles is really remarkable, but even as they’re allowed to stand alone as singular “sides” of the record, they hold their own beautifully.
Thou & Emma Ruth Rundle – I should be surprised by this, but honestly, it’s pretty much par for the course for Thou, who seem to be able to crank out a new, interesting album every few months. But this EP is the companion release to the astoundingly good collaboration album with Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle released just a few months ago in November. What’s really cool though, is that while this was recorded in the same session as the tracks for the full length, these don’t feel like B-sides, this is a completely different sound. The diversity and flexibility of ERR and Thou’s musicianship is always impressive, but when presented in a package is brilliant as this, the example is even more shining. Just a few months ago, I was raving about how this project took the best parts of both entities and amplified them as they worked together to create something truly special, and the fact that they’re able to come together and do the exact same thing yet have it sound completely different is mind blowing. This is a very, very special project and I hope we keep hearing more from the two working together.
Singles – This is really the first week of 2021 where we’re getting a lot of new music coming at us at once. Tons of bands are releasing singles to give us a taste of what’s to come later in the year, so there’s honestly too much to address individually, but I’ll list out some of the notable ones.
Erra (metalcore), Hail the Sun (swancore), God is an Astronaut (post rock), LANDMVRKS (djent/metalcore), AFI (rock), Eyehategod (sludge/doom), Demon Hunter (metalcore), Ghost Iris (metalcore), Julien Baker (singer/songwriter), Spill Canvas (rock), Normandie (post-hardcore/pop), Monolord (doom), A.A. William (dark folk/cover), Darko (tech deathcore)
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Best of 2020
Well, here it is, this is basically the culmination of all my weekly music posts, here’s my end of year list with all of my favorites from this year. I had to leave a few out, which is ultimately a good thing cause that means, despite all the bad this year, we were really spoiled for choice with new music, and you know what, I’ll take it. Anyway, be sure to tell me what your favorite albums were.
Top 10 Albums
Loathe – I Let It in and it Took Everything – This was a surprise hit that came out earlier in the year but holy shit, was I impressed. It’s like a perfect mix between metalcore and heavy Deftones vibes. People are gonna be biting this sound for years, I’m calling it now.
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher – I’ve been very vocal about my love for Phoebe Bridgers this year, but there’s a reason this album made it on every end of year list from everybody from Barak Obama to Nate from Converge. This woman and this album are INCREDIBLY special.
END – Splinters From an Ever-Changing Face – I’d been looking forward to this album for about 2 years and it didn’t disappoint. This was an absolutely incredible supergroup that somehow managed to be even greater than its individual pieces and gave us this absolute beat down of an album.
Currents – The Way It Ends – It’s hard to name any bands that do metalcore better than these guys. Out of all the truly incredible metalcore albums that came out this year, this is a massive standout that managed to more than live up to the incredible name these guys have built for themselves.
Lorna Shore – Immortal – I called this as one of my albums of the year about a year ago, before the album itself had even come out. Despite some controversy that was handled promptly by the band, this blacked deathcore still went on to be the absolute heaviest album of the year.
Invent, Animate – Greyview – Honestly, I was surprised by this one. These guys have always been good but failed to really captivate me. Greyview was entirely different, it was a technical masterpiece and captivating from start to finish. It may be more Djenty, but these guys and Currents owned metalcore in 2020.
Be Well – The Weight and the Cost – This album is a special one, not many people caught it, and it probably won’t make many year-end lists, but this DC-born supergroup featuring a bunch of old metal and hardcore guys just really hit home for me, this felt very special and very personal.
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full – This collaboration really showed us the possibilities of the meeting of creative minds from two groups at the top of their different yet complimentary games. This folky, almost ethereal doom/sludge metal (sounds weird, right?) turned out to be perfect.
The Acacia Strain – Slow Decay – The music on this album was incredible, The Acacia Strain is always awesome, but this may be a highlight of theirs over the past few years, More than that though, the unorthodox release of this album – a series of 2-song EPs released every month or so spelling out DECAY, was just the coolest thing in the world.
Polaris – The Death of Me – I almost didn’t include this album cause it felt like another step towards the nu-metal trend in metalcore, but ultimately, I think that’s precisely why it deserves a spot on this list. This album is a bit of a blueprint for where metalcore is going, and it feels different, but it’s damn good.
Best EP (tie)
Bilmuri – Eggy Pocket – Again, I legit thought this project was a joke, the whole premise of it is just so weird. One of the guys from Attack Attack has a post-hardcore/R&B kind of project with just the weirdest aesthetics ever but man, does it work. This EP was so well done, I loved it so much.
Salem – Salem – This gets kind of into novelty territory, releasing a horror punk album right around Halloween, it’s a surefire way to get my attention. But they really played on the old Alkaline Trio, My Chem, AFI, Tiger Army sound and feel, and not only was it perfect contextually, it was pretty damn good full stop.
Best Single
Every Time I Die – All – This kind of goes without saying. We may not have gotten the new album this year, but we got three incredible singles, which are not only enough to hold me over until the new year, but also enough to make me more excited than ever about this new album.
Spiritbox – Holy Roller – This music delivery methods may be a bit unconventional, leaning towards releasing singles one by one as the main event, rather than a promotional tool for a full album. But it works, cause every stand-alone single that Spiritbox has released has been unreal, especially “Holy Roller”.
Best Show – hahahahahahahahaha *sobs* Nah, I saw Cult of Luna and Emma Ruth Rundle this year and it was awesome, but that’s literally it. That said, there were a lot of very good live streams. The Devil Wears Prada ones were very good, especially Roots Above. The Every Time I Die ‘Tidathon was basically a hilarious fever dream so that was awesome. And the Thursday and Darkest Hour/Misery Signals steams were also really good. Hopefully I’ll be able to add some actual live shows to my list for 2021 though.
That said, I think that does it for me for 2020. Thank you all again so so much for paying attention to these, it really means a lot. I’ve had a ton of fun writing them, but hearing all the encouragement from some of you, telling me how much you enjoyed it, how you found new bands from it, or how you have absolutely no idea what I was talking about cause you don’t listen to any of this music but still read it every week anyway, all of that was incredibly encouraging and made this all worth it. So, thanks again, and as I said, I’ll be back at it in a few weeks when the first real releases of 2020 start coming out.
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New Music Report – December 11, 2020
Well, this is it, folks, this is the last of my new music posts for 2020. This is more or less the last week that will feature any notable releases for the remainder of the year, so I’ll be taking a few weeks off. I hugely appreciate every single one of you that’s read these, talked to me about new music, or discovered some new bands through my posts. I’ll pick these back up in January when the new releases start rolling out again, and in the meantime, I’ll be back in a week or so with my Top 10 list from the year.
Inspirit – This is a big one, I’m gonna need you all to bear with me for a second while I explain this. A little more than a decade ago, I was living in Boston playing in a post-hardcore band and there were two bands in particular in the Boston music scene that everyone loved universally: Therefore I Am and Vanna. This band, as it turns out, is literally Vanna from that point in time. If put the Boston music scene from the late-00s into a time capsule, and opened that time capsule up in 2020, Inspirit is what you would get. This is the 2006-ish Vanna lineup with the 2006-ish Vanna sound. They’ve made no attempts to modernize their sound or pander to any contemporary standards. They just made good, classic metalcore with strong vocal hooks, just as we enjoyed it back then, and it turns out, I enjoy it just as much today. Sure, I’m sure it’s partially due to some nostalgic value, as it will be for anybody that’s missed classic Vanna all these years, but there is an undeniable charm and honesty that comes from these songs that feels lacking in today’s hyper-technical, hyper-produced metalcore, and even for that alone, I love it.
Deftones (remix album) – Ok well, what can really be said about White Pony? It’s one of the most monumental albums of all time. So, choosing to remix it on its 20th anniversary was, well, both a no brainer and a bit of a risky move. On the one hand, everyone loves this album, and any opportunity to revisit it is certainly a welcome one. On the other than, what are the chances that songs like “Passenger” and “Change” can actually be improved upon, especially two decades later. I believe that songs are not only representative of the musicians, but also the time they were created, and White Pony really could have only existed in the year 2000. So, even with big names like Mike Shinoda, Squarepusher, DJ Shadow, Phantogram, and Purity Ring remixing these almost untouchable works of music, it wasn’t a sure thing. But did they miss the mark? I guess that’s a subjective answer. “Passenger” is one of my favorite songs of all time. Do I think Mike Shinoda improved upon it? No. Do I appreciate the new perspective on a song that means so much to me? Absolutely. And I think that’s the takeaway. This doesn’t improve upon White Pony, it simply allows you to look at it through a new lens, and I think for that, it’s worth a listen.
Singles – You know how I’ve been saying for weeks that I don’t usually talk about singles then proceed to talk about singles? Well, these are two of my favorite bands and I can do what I want.
Every Time I Die – God, what a fucking year 2020 has been. And the postponement of the new ETID album was another giant turd on a great big disappointment of a year. But man, are they coming in at the last minute to save the day. These two new singles prove that they really are one of the greatest bands out there. ETID may be my favorite band so I’m very, very biased here, but these new singles; holy shit, dude. Not only are these absolute rippers, but the production value is the best we’ve ever heard from the boys, Goose’s drumming fits the band perfectly, and the on top of all that, the band are still out there willing to keep experimenting with new and adventurous compositions. As a result, these singles are a very enticing taste of what’s to come. Now here’s hoping we can get our shit together in 2021 so we can get the new album and I can see these guys live again. In the meantime, check out the livestream they’re doing this Saturday (12/19).
Cult of Luna – Speaking of 2020 being a disaster, this was the last band I got to see live, I’m actually wearing a Cult of Luna hoodie right now. So, I’m awfully fond of these guys too. I honestly wasn’t expecting new material from them so quickly after their absolutely incredible 2019 album, A Dawn to Fear, but here we have the first single off their upcoming EP. “Three Bridges” is an epic, almost 9 minute long sludgy, post metal masterpiece. It feels like a continuation of A Dawn to Fear, but very much its own piece moving into a new, grander direction. This is fantastic, and now I’m VERY excited for the new album.
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New Music Report – November 27, 2020
Well, the year is winding down and so is the new music to talk about. Thankfully, we still have a few good weeks left, and those weeks tend to give us some very cool very unexpected albums that are always a nice way to carry us through the barren month around the holidays before new music for 2021 starts showing up, and what a way to do it this year.
Palm Reader – Almost every year, I end up surprised by a really cool last minute, end of year release, and this year is no different. While I’ve been following this chaotic British metalcore/melodic hardcore for years now, they’ve always been mostly lukewarm to me. They’ve been an objectively good, but not quite stellar band. They felt like they had the makings of something really impressive but had a little trouble actually getting there. This is their arrival. This album is spectacular. I know I tend to draw comparisons to other bands with familiar sounds to help define a band or an album, but for this band it’s kind of hard. It’s got so many very familiar sounds and styles that just sound right, but still incredibly unique; flavors of so many of my favorite chaotic and iconic bands, but they all cumulate to become just themselves, just Palm Reader. And man, is it brilliant. There’s an epic blend of dark atmospherics, raw chaos, and wonderful texturized synths giving a soundscape for a diverse mix of ripping screams, airy clean vocals, and a vocal strain to meet every tone in between. Check this out.
Within the Ruins – For well more than a decade now, Within the Ruins have been pushing the limits of progressive metalcore/deathcore, and during the last 5 or 6 years, in particular, they have been having a particularly tumultuous career. From lineup changes, illness, bus accidents, and more, Within the Ruins have really been put to the test and kept on pushing where many other bands would have called it a day. That makes this new album – their first with new vocalist, Steve Tinnon – even more impressive. While this may not be the pinnacle of Within the Ruins in any singular moment, it’s an incredibly strong and comprehensive showcase of what the band is capable of, with many soaring highs and incredible technical moments. This is quite possibly the most consistently impressive Within the Ruins album, at least in quite some time. This is an absolute banger of an album that hits nonstop with a bit of everything, from brutal chugging metal, to djenty leads, to groovy synths. It’s wild, it sounds like a mishmash of things that should probably be a bit too chaotic to work together, but these guys are absolute masterminds of extreme metal, and this album, above all else, perhaps, proves exactly why.
Plini – This is a tricky one. I make a habit of just writing about music that I enjoy personally, I know that really limits me, but this is intended to be an informal thing to allows me to share the things that I like, not to try to fish for likes by trashing anyone’s music. But this one, this is different. Now, I know this is strange, I really love progressive, heavy instrumental music, but when it loses the heavy factor, I really lose all interest. Which I know is super lame, but bands like Polyphia and Chon do absolutely nothing for me, but I LOVE bands like Night Verses. Go figure. Anyway, Plini falls into the category of the latter. He’s an incredibly talented musician and writes quasi-heavy, very progressive, almost jazzy instrumental music. And I’ll be the first to say that it isn’t necessarily for me, it’s just not my thing. But I really have to recognize the sheer talent going on here. And really, the diversity in this album, covering the full spectrum of soundscapes into the heaviness that I am familiar with makes it all the more captivating. This was a big surprise, I knew how good Plini was, but I still wasn’t expecting it to hit the spot, but man, I’m just so in awe at this man’s talent, it’s impossible to not enjoy this.
HORSE the Band – Well, this was unexpected. I never thought I’d be writing about HORSE the Band again, but 2020 is full of surprises, so here we are. And for what it’s worth, it’s a short album, it’s two new songs and a cover, but it’s still really incredible to say that we’ve got some new music from these guys. If you know this band, you know, if you don’t and you enjoy absolutely chaos and nonsense and something called Nintendocore, then check this out.
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