New Music Report – September 17, 2021
Man, this week is HUGE. I can’t even begin to have enough time to cover all of them, but I’m making sure I at least cover some of the big ones. And by big, I mean two of these albums are ones I’ve been looking forward to for over a year now, and I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one. Spiritbox and Eidola have both been teasing these forever and I’m SO stoked to finally get to sit down and listen to them. There are tons of honorable mentions in the album list like the new Thrice and Employed to Serve, and some HUGE new singles from Silent Planet and ETID, so definitely take the time to check those out too.
Eidola – I absolutely adore this band. I’ve been saying for years that these guys are the best thing to come out of the swancore group by such a large margin, it isn’t even close. And this new album is just more evidence as to why. They avoid being a cookie-cutter of other progressive post-hardcore bands out there and maintain their own identity while still falling very firmly within familiar territory. Andrew Wells, singer, songwriter, and touring guitarist for Dance Gavin Dance is the mastermind behind this project and now, with the addition of guitar genius Sergio Medina, they’ve managed to step up their game once again. I’m not sure I’m in love with this album quite as much as their last one, but that sense of familiarity can’t be replicated immediately. What I do know, is this album is good enough to have the lasting power in my song rotation to know that one day it will be just as important to me, and that’s not an easy feat these days.
Spiritbox – This was easily one of the most hyped metal releases coming out this year and I’ll have to admit, I had some preconceived notions about it. About this time last year, I had “Holy Roller” on repeat and I thought this band would be huge, but as more and more singles rolled out I started to cool on them a bit. I don’t know why, it was still good, it just didn’t quite have the same impact. I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed by this album. But it turns out I was just looking at it the wrong way. Spiritbox are incredibly talented musicians and songwriters, and they’ve basically just fast-tracked their career to late-stage-Architects style metal. It’s a lot more accessible and “radio-friendly” than most metal, but still very technical and hits very hard. I think this will be an incredibly successful project for them and I certainly hope so because they deserve it. Not everything has to be crushingly heavy or djenty to be good, this album is exactly what it needs to be.
Mono – This is one of my sleeper hits of the year. I know a lot of you read this for my metal and hardcore recommendations and most of you aren’t as familiar with the post-rock bands that I follow but trust me when I say that this is one of the absolute best of the best. Mono, from Japan, have been some of the most emotional, powerful, and innovative post-rock bands out there for more than a decade now, so a new album from them is absolutely something to celebrate. They claimed that this album would have more electronic influences than other albums, which I guess I kind of see? I think it’s more in the atmospherics but regardless, it adds a ton of depth a complexity to an already strong album. This is one of those bands that you already know is going to put out something remarkable, but this album is just next level, even for them.
Singles/Albums – Silent Planet (Metalcore), Every Time I Die (Metalcore), Employed to Serve (Hardcore/Metalcore), Thrice (LP, Alt Rock), The Plot in You (LP, Post-Hardcore), Carcass (LP, Metal), Vulvodynia (LP, Slam-Death), Attack Attack (Crabcore), Sleep Token (Metalcore-ish), Comeback Kid (Hardcore/Metalcore), Wage War (Metalcore), Dying Wish (Metalcore)