Browsing Tag

post hardcore

Chicago alt-metal originators, Dust Biters, expose their bleeding post-hardcore heart in ‘Progeny’

With a tumultuously rapturous sound that could only have stemmed from Chicago, Dust Biters’ lead single, Progeny, from their album, Guilt, is a viscerally maniacal feat of tightly off-kilter ingenuity.

As Nick Kinsley dynamically volleys between hitting all the right vocal notes, he throws plenty of evocative punches along the way. In the same vein as Against Me! Dust Biters heighten their sound to the nth degree through a combination of instrumental prowess and bleeding post-hardcore heart.

In the space of three minutes, Progeny moves through as many tonal shifts as some bands do in an entire LP. Yet, with the way that the uninhibitedly wild progressions bind together with melodic adhesion, it’s always easy to follow their raw groove-led lead.

If they make it to the UK, I will be the one with a near-broken neck at the front.

Check out the Radio Cut of Progeny on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Luna Falling – The End: Bio-Mechanical Post-Hardcore

If Blue October hailed from 100 years in the future, their fervid firestorms would resound with the same pioneering panache as the hits from the Ohio-based outfit, Luna Falling.

The End relatably signifies the collective state of discontent in a time when we’re all sick of the threat that the curtains could close at any given moment. The futuristically thunderous drum sequences rail across the synths that give this feat of post-hardcore a potent shot of bio-mechanical flair while creating a glitchy platform for the cascades of aching emotion that are all too easy to resonate with.

Will Carlson notably knows how to pull a massive production together. Hit play, and you will be consumed by the tightly melodic kaleidoscopic furore.

The End is now available to stream on Spotify. Follow Luna Falling via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Post-hardcore goes electro-pop in I was the ocean once’s latest single, Heavy Love

Post-hardcore underwent an electronic renovation in I was the ocean once’s latest single, Heavy Love. After a scratchy turntable intro, a Deathstars-Esque sense of discord and heavy electro angst feeds into the pretty hate soundscape that toys with elements of electro-pop and hip hop. I say ‘toys’ think of Pinhead with a puzzle box!

It’s a scathing feat of experimentalism that won’t be for everyone. But for those inclined to dabble in vehement driven schizophrenically electric records, delve right into this cathartically raw outpour of visceral ‘love’. It is sure to hit the existential spot.

Heavy Love is now available to stream on YouTube.

Check out I was the ocean once via their official website, and follow them on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Less Miserable – The Dentist: Meet the Icons of Self-Depreciating Post-Emo Pop-Punk

43 Chinook by Less Miserable

Post-emo pop-punk outfit, Less Miserable took expression to the next level in their 2022 standout single, The Dentist. The visceral track explores the intricacies of depression by making a series of proclamations that everyone who has ever felt inadequacy loom along with the bark of the black dog will relate to.

With killer lines “the sun on my face feels like a cheap insult that I can’t ignore” and the chorus hook “If you want me to see a dentist, you’ll have to kick me in the teeth, I can’t ask for help unless it is an emergency” to a backdrop of progressively off-kilter post-hardcore rancour, The Dentist will break your heart through resonance. Before mending it through the affirmation that you’re not alone in the insecurities you feel in loving relationships and the tendency to neglect self-care when you don’t see yourself as something worth investing in

Without a hint of hyperbole, I’ve just found a new favourite artist in the Alberta-based outfit who specialises in self-deprecating anthems made to drink cheap beer to and shout along to in sweaty basements. It’s almost enough to make me buy a plane ticket to Calgary to party with the candour-gifted lyrical visionaries.

The Dentist is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

British Quintessentialism meets riotous pop-punk and post-hardcore in DEFS’ latest single, No Worries If Not

DEFS is a one-man mission to create groove-saturated raucous pop bangers; based on the Sheffield, UK-based songwriter and producer’s latest riotously off-kilter single, No Worries If Not, his endeavour is a resounding success. If you could imagine how Liam Lynch’s United States of Whatever would have unfolded if he was quintessentially British, you’ll get an idea of the animated exuberance.

With his influences ranging from punk rock to nu-metal to 90s indie, DEFS constructed a genre-fluid rancorous mockery of our awkward over-polite tendencies. Through catchy pop-punk choruses, hammering post-hardcore breakdowns (literally and metaphorically), schizophrenic vocal transitions and psychedelically anthemic mayhem, No Worries If Not became the ultimate alt-indie playlist staple. Half-Man Half-Biscuit has nothing on DEFS.

No Worries If Not is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

The UK’s most promising electronic post-rock pioneers, Bear Witness, have released their temperamentally visceral stormer, Thorn in My Side

Bear Witness

If you ever found yourself with a soft spot for Celldweller, Highly Suspect or InMe, the Brighton-based Electronic Alt-Rock duo, Bear Witness have exactly what it takes to rekindle your affinity for viscerally raw turbulent tracks. Their latest single, Thorn in My Side, is practically post-rock pornography.

Around the overdriven scuzzy guitar riffs, there’s enough of a melody to leave you hooked in the temperamental rhythms, and perceptibly, Bear Witness know just how to use spatial effect and build tension throughout their sonic stormer.

Unsurprisingly, we aren’t the only ones hooked on Bear Witness’ refreshing candour and blisteringly off-kilter signature sound. They’ve already been lauded by the BBC, played to crowds at The Camden Assembly, and are currently semi-finalists in the Isle of Wight Festival’s New Blood competition.

Thorn in My Side will officially release on April 15th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The alt-rock powerhouse, Silence in Surrender, is ‘Coming Up’ in the first single to be released from their forthcoming album.

South West London’s riffiest prodigal sons of hard rock, Silence in Surrender, have teased what it is to come in their forthcoming album with the release of the first single, Coming Up.

As soon as I hit play, the virtuosic furore shunted me right back to the early 00s metal and hard rock scene; as the dynamic track progresses, they keep the instrumental curveballs coming with the infusion of thrash and the Seattle sound.

I never thought I would see the day when a track could appease fans of Mastodon, Bring Me the Horizon, Faith No More, Velvet Underground and Pixies simultaneously, but Silence in Surrender delivered that and a whole lot more with Coming Up. It appears that they’re the only one that got the memo about bringing the sex appeal back to rock too – the guitar solos should come with an X-Rating.

Coming Up is due for release on March 4th. You can check out the official music video via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast