Angel Du$t – “The Beat”
Per vocalist Justice Tripp’s all-aggro performance on the A-side of Angel Du$t’s new surprise single, the pop-hardcore force are poised to beat us like a drum ‘til the end of time. Despite the tune’s sub-two-minute runtime, what’s impressive is that they’re going about the attack with a surprising amount of versatility, too.
They super-charge the simply-stated song with fast-and-furious punk energy, as well as a half-time, triplet-staccato stomp-down. Twitching Tongues’ Taylor Young also stops by to deliver a smackdown on the mic.
Deftones – “my mind is a mountain”
Deftones’ first public-facing preview of their forthcoming private music LP has been elevating our mental state this week. Simply put, it’s goddamn glorious.
The heavy-swung “my mind is a mountain” is the band’s first piece of new music in five years, and to paraphrase Chino Moreno soft-gauze sighing on the song, we’ve been waiting here for their return this whole time. But, you know… not patiently.
The new single crests forth with a signature mix of dreamgazing, detuned riffage and opaque lyricism. On point as ever, it’s another Deftones banger certain to remain in our collective consciousness for years to come
ERRA – “Gore of Being”
“Dismantle me.”
We admittedly all-too-willingly submitted to the violence of ERRA’s new “Gore of Being.”
The Alabama progressive metalcore squad serve up a precision pounding throughout the new tune, balancing djent-drilled technicality with speaker-battering drum hits and a mix of bleak-gilded vocal barbarism. This is all to say, it is hardly the “soft lament” they lyrically tease in the first verse — and that’s a good thing.
Ice Nine Kills – “The Great Unknown”
Ice Nine took a stab at saluting a sci-fi classic this week, with their new digital-fried single paying homage to the Wachowskis’ reality-warping The Matrix series. And while neither the song nor the video are as bloody or horrifying as INK’s most-beloved work, “The Great Unknown” is still a scream of a good time.
It’s fun to see Spencer Charnas going full Neo in the vid, pulling off wall-walking kung fu moves as he spars with a set of insidious, sunglassed Agent stand-ins. Musically, INK are still vamping through their signature mix of theatrical hooks and bruising breakdowns, while simultaneously short-circuiting their mainframe with a pronounced electronic skitteriness.
Not Enough Space – “New Age Cannibal”
Not Enough Space are back for more, and we’re bowing for our hungry scene queens.
After snacking on intestines, hearts and other assorted human organs across various music videos, the rising Florida quintet’s “New Age Cannibal” serves up a fittingly grotesque smorgasbord of flesh-ripping lyricism.
As co-vocalists Lizzie Raatma and Liv Mitchell lay out their plans to filet and feast upon the world at large, the tune bashes from dark, pop-punk-esque chorus melodies towards a boldly viscera-stomping deathcore section. Eat up.
Terminal Sleep – “They Circle Below”
Music is catharsis. While it’s a well-worn platitude, time and time again we hear of people cranking guitar stacks, hammering rhythms and rage-purging primal screams out of themselves as a way to work through their heaviest problems.
That was apparently the case with Australian metalcore crew Terminal Sleep, whose debut single for Nuclear Blast, “They Circle Below,” was crafted to help overcome “mental turmoil.”
Flexing Down Under D-beating, from-the-gut growls (courtesy of lead howler Bec Thorwesten) and a Nineties-nostalgic underground hardcore heaviness, the song is a circle pit-starting triumph of the will.