This week's installment of playlist additions run the gamut from noise punk to throwback heavy metal. With selections from seasoned veterans and emerging prospects, the future of heavy music as a whole continues to blur genre divides and grow more inclusive, dynamic, and innovative.
Here is the week in review and a quick collection of mandatory jams to begin streaming at full volume.
Hazing Over - "Jock"
The buzz surrounding post-hardcore upstarts Shin Guard was real. The band's Death of Spring split with For Your Health showcased a new generation of screamo that modernized the sound rather than relied on nostalgia. In the wake of Covid however, the band's momentum hit a brick wall, so they opted to make some personnel changes and redirect their focus. Now known as Hazing Over, the sound is a full embrace of 2000's deathcore heft. The band's first EP drops in February but the initial offering in "Jock" is a goddamned banger.
Luna 13 - "Sacrificial Lamb"
A compelling marriage of black metal aesthetic, bass-heavy electronica, and industrial antagonism, Luna 13 utilize programmed drum beats and the growl of frontwoman Lilith Bathory to put down digital darkness on wax. The duo's "Sacrificial Lamb" from their God.Dis LP revisits the real life horrors of 2020 and a world that has fallen victim to a global pandemic coupled with systematic and societal collapse.
Prospective - “Liar”
The emerging Italian metalcore unit deliver a bombastic track that deals with the emotional debilitation of betrayal. Utilizing elements of progressive, groove, and Djent, the promising upstarts are quickly establishing a solid reputation for skilled aggression. The track is the latest from their Long Branch Records LP, All We Have.
Nopes - “Under the Leather”
Nestled somewhere between art punk and sweaty rock minus the cheese, Nopes offer the kind of organized distortion that is as unorthodox as it is articulate. Complete with a snide sense of sarcasm that oozes out of the band’s instrumental purge, the latest track from the band’s forthcoming, Djörk, is the kind of hot mess that makes for a great listen.
Ghost Iris - “paper tiger”
The Danish prospects wield a big stick on their latest, "paper tiger". A potent, powerful concoction of metal dynamics with hardcore catharsis, the band's approach offers a heavy drubbing accented with the occasional groove for balance. Go nuts to this one.
EYEHATEGOD - “Fake What’s Yours”
The second sample from the band's highly-anticipated A History of Nomadic Behavior LP is anchored by the kind of filthy fretwork that the pioneers of NOLA sludge are best known for. Antagonistic and abrasive, the track is a skilled showing of slow-moving buzz that combined with the rasp of Mike IX Williams, resonates as audio annihilation.
Wolf King - “Wondering Souls”
The Bay Area purveyors of blackened metal deliver another assertion why their forthcoming The Path of Wrath is deserving of the hype. A deft display of multi-genre embrace, the band's brand of charred hardcore is an amalgam of everything from doom to death, presented in a way that is both contemporary and crushing.
Bewitcher - “Satanic Magick Attack”
The Portland pushers of heavy metal horse power assert their rank once again with the latest from their Cursed Be Thy Kingdom LP. The band's latest single is another example of the skilled balance of classic sound with modern delivery.
Sanguisugabogg - “Menstrual Envy”
Skip trying to pronounce it - just know it's Latin for 'Bloodsucker'. Either way, the Ohio-based maniacs indulge in the glory of gore with golden-era death metal reminiscent of Six Feet under, Suffocation, and Dying Fetus. The NSFW visual bloody good time complete with psychedelics, plenty of blood, and gigantic prosthetic dicks that eat unsuspecting victims alive.
Gatecreeper - "Imposter Syndrome"
With ZERO rollout, Gatecreeper not only debuted new music, they dropped an expansive 8-track EP to the surprise of everyone. Comprised of a Side A and Side B, the first offers a molotov cocktail of tracks with 7-cuts all clocking in at less than 7-minutes total. Elements of grind, punk, and hardcore offer a skilled antithesis to the locomotive heft of Side B and the sound of the apocalypse with the 11-minute track "emptiness". Every track on An Unexpected Reality is articulate brutality - plain and simple.
