New Music Report – August 27, 2021
We’re getting into the good part of the year now. I know new releases tend to come in waves, but late-summer all through fall is always a very busy time for new music and I have to say, I’m super stoked about some of the stuff on the horizon. Including a few of this week’s releases. Phinehas and Turnstile are both two bands absolutely at the top of their game and keeping the heavy music scene really interesting and fun. I’m not loving everything I talk about this week, but again, that’s all just personal opinion, it’s all certainly worth checking out.
Phinehas – There has been a lot of really good metalcore coming out over the past few years, and I have to say it’s easy to take it all for granted. The genre is pushing itself to new heights with bands raising the bar seemingly week by week. But on the other hand, I suppose it’s probably kind of easy to desensitized by all this good music. I know I’ve written off perfectly good albums because they were like 8/10 but the standard these days is at least a 9/10 or better. It’s kind of wild, actually. That said, Phinehas is at least a 9/10, good god, what a record. It’s got the technicality of the last Invent, Animate record, the vocal hooks of the last Polaris album, and the breakdowns of the last ABR album. But it still sounds like its own unique piece of music, which I think is the real challenge here. They did a phenomenal job standing out in what is, frankly, a very crowded room.
Turnstile – Turnstile is such a cool band. First off, they’re Baltimore locals, so they already get bonus points for that. But they’re also going through a similar arc that Knocked Loose went through a few years ago, where they’re championing this somewhat new hybrid sound of old school heavy genres that has absolutely no business gaining any sort of mainstream success on a larger scale, but here we are. Turnstile have managed to make (intentionally) poorly recorded, upbeat 90’s New York hardcore into something undeniably infectious and honestly just so much fun. The hype for them, while somewhat surprising, is 100% deserved. I know this was a fairly big week for releases, but now that some time has passed, the only album I still see continually mentioned as something people have on repeat is one, and I have to say, I completely understand. It’s not every day that hardcore can be this fun, but Turnstile absolutely nailed it.
Jinjer – Ok, this is gonna be a controversial one and some of you all aren’t gonna like this but that’s ok. I understand what Jinjer is trying to do and I’m glad they’re getting so much attention for it. They’re all incredibly talented musicians, and Tatiana an incredible voice. But man, these guys aren’t for me. It’s hard to explain, it all feels a little too much like a simulation of what metal is supposed to look and sound like; it feels a little generic and two-dimensional. It also feels a little bit dated, if this came out in like 2004 it would be insane, but now it just feels like we can do more with this sound. I don’t know, like I said, I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but this one didn’t do it for me. I’m sure a lot of people will like this one, so as always, I encourage people to listen for themselves and form their own opinion, that’s why I’m still taking the time to write about it, but I’m not super into this one.
Singles/Albums – The Bronx (LP, Punk), Wage War (Metalcore), Rebreather & Frayle (Post-Metal/Doom), Shadow of Intent (Lamb of God cover, Deathcore), Memphis May Fire (Metalcore)