New Music Report – May 13, 2022

Sometimes these posts are a bit of a challenge, it’s always easy to write about bands that I follow intently, but when I get bands like State Champs, that I really admire just don’t follow that closely, it always offers a bit of a fun challenge. That said, it’s also a lot of fun to revisit these bands that I haven’t really paid much attention to for a few years, only to find that they’re doing even better.

State Champs – Late spring/early summer is pop punk time. I don’t make the rules, it just is. Which means this album came out at the absolutely perfect time. Honestly, I’m not always in the mood for pop punk these days, but it kinda sounds like the same thing is the case for most of the pop punk bands from the early-‘10s pop punk wave. State Champs included, they have been staples of the pop punk scene for about a decade now, and they’re maturing into a bit more of an adult sounding version of pop punk. They still have their signature jumpy, summer time pop punk energy, but now they’re proving they’re one of the kings of the sound and just simply doing it better than most.

Misery Index – I’m not gonna lie, Misery Index is really cool, but I’ve spent basically my whole life thinking of Misery Index as “no, not Misery Signals”, and that really isn’t fair to them. The Baltimore deathgrind band has just as much of a storied discography and lengthy history in the heavy music scene. In fact, they’re as consistent as ever, and this album is dan near perfect. Honestly, I don’t listen to a ton of music in this specific genre, but Misery Index is usually my go to for this exact reason.

Singles/Albums – Lorna Shore (Deathcore), Mono (Post Rock), Berried Alive (Instrumental Djent), Polyphia (Math Rock), Behemoth (Black Metal), D.R.U.G.S. (Post-Hardcore), Death Cab For Cutie (Indie), Emery (Post-Hardcore), Bayside (Pop Punk), Soilwork (Metal), Left to Suffer (Metalcore)