New Music Report – May 14, 2021
*Note – This post is for music from 5/14, I’m posting this right after the post from 5/7 in a separate post but on the same day in an attempt to get back on schedule after my move. Sorry for jumbling things up a bit.*
I had to take a bit of time to get myself caught back up with these new music releases, but this past week has been a very good week to do that. Not entirely overwhelming, I must say, but a few very, very solid releases that are more than enough to get me excited to check out some new music again. I hope you enjoy these, as well, especially the first EP I talk about, I know I gush about them a little bit, but I genuinely believe these guys are completely changing the game, at least in their particular corner of the scene.
If I Die First/SeeYouSpaceCowboy EP – Now, this is something I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. These two bands are just everything music needs right now. They’re doing something brand new by recalling the past – the past I grew up on, in an incredibly exciting new way. And let me tell you, seeing a sound that you love and grew up with hit its peak, fall out of fashion, then become so retro that it’s cool and people are doing it again makes you feel REALLY fucking old, but man, am I glad it’s happening. This is the perfect rejuvenation of the old screamo, emocore, scenecore bands from the mid-00s like Drop Dead, Gorgeous and From First to Last. In fact, Travis Richter and Derek Bloom from FFTL both play in If I Die First, along with Lil Lotus and members of Ghostmane, whom I do not know, but I’m told the kids like them. Both of these bands are absolutely carrying this sound into fresh new horizons, and I couldn’t be more excited to be able to watch the new generation take the sound that meant so much to me and create something so fresh with it. This isn’t just good, this is the future.
Panopticon – Panopticon has always been n anomaly in the “solo project ambient black metal” scene. Partially cause he’s actually good, and partially due to the sheer talent and resiliency of Austin Lunn’s project. His work has always been particularly interesting since it teams black metal and bluegrass, of all things, resulting in a bleak, dark southern-tinged style of black metal. It sounds so weird, but I love it. If you want a taste of this in its truest form, check out Autumn Eternal. This new album is a bit of a progression of this sound, maintaining his signature melancholy and deep south themes, but with a slightly deeper and more diverse style of composition, spreading past the banjos and blast beats (I swear, it’s SO much cooler than it sounds) and adding some very solid post rock vibes to make this an even more complex musical journey. Lunn, as an artist in any form, is just a brilliant man, and while this might not be the absolute staple of the Panopticon sound, it’s a perfect showcase of his real talent.
Singles/Albums – The Devil Wears Prada (Metalcore), Our Hollow Our Home (Metalcore), Fear Factory (Nu-Metal), Sleep Waker (Metalcore), The Dead Rabbitts (Metalcore/Post Hardcore), The Ember the Ash (LP, Metalcore), Cane Hill (Nu-Metalcore), Chunk! No, Captain Chunk (Easycore), Carnifex (Deathcore), Cherry (Members of Thornhill & Void of Vision/Alt Rock), Alustrium (Tech Death), God is an Astronaut (Live Album, Post Rock), Erdve (Atmospheric Sludge), Galleons (LP, Post Hardcore), Bulb (Misha from Periphery, Djent)