Bossk ".4"

2xLP - $22.50 / CD - $8.00
LP UPC: 791689665504
CD UPC: 791689665498
STREET DATE: 5/10/24
CAT#: DW244
LABEL: Deathwish Inc.

One of the shining beacons of the UK post-metal scene, Bossk have steadily built up an unrepentantly loyal following since 2005. Before they reach the big 20, the band are taking this opportunity to take pause and reflect on their past and all the hard graft that has led them to become one of the most lauded bands in the genre. .4, the latest in a series of numbered releases that presents material outside the remit of Bossk's full-length album output, is a celebration of those 20 years and provides an enticing aperitif for their 3rd album proper, to be released sometime in 2025.

As is tradition with these numbered releases, .4 is not a Bossk album in the conventional sense, instead forging a more experimental path by presenting re-worked versions of some old favourites, as well as a smattering of re-recorded songs that only the most obsessed Bossk fan will be familiar with.

One deciding factor that emboldened Bossk to celebrate their past is the amicable departure of vocalist Sam Marsh due to his permanent relocation to the United States. The band wanted to give Sam an epic recorded send-off and the colossal 13-minute Events Occur in Real Time provides a fitting farewell for the vocalist, who's guttural razor-wire screams have provided tectonic shifting textures to the band since their inception in 2005. Acting as the centrepiece of .4, this is the first studio take of the song ever recorded, conceived as it was in 2008, just months before the band went on temporary hiatus. The only version available prior was recorded live and released on a limited edition split 12" with long gone fellow post-metal band Rinoa. .4 gives Bossk the opportunity to record the song in a new and reimagined way, replete with mariachi-style trumpet work courtesy of Adam Faires.

The band were keen to re-visit Truth, a song they identify as one of the most important in their early repertoire. Plans to record an acoustic version of the song were soon abandoned when the band were tagged in a vocal cover of the song on Instagram by Dubai-based composer Sheenagh Murray. Her rendition galvanised Bossk to re-write the song entirely from the ground up with her vocals in mind, which has resulted in the rendition heard on .4, imaginatively titled Truth II, which sounds almost unrecognisable from the original, showing the growth the band have made in the past 14 years.

In a move that displays the band's love of collaboration, this collection presents four classic Bossk tracks re-worked by their contemporaries, giving a new lease of life to songs that have become staples of Bossk's set. First up is Manchester-based post metal project Pijn's take on fan favourite Kobe, an interpretation that initially suggests a more sedate take on the song that gradually swells into a symphony of swirling strings and percussion that accelerando to an almighty climax. Japanese experimentalists in heavy music Endon previously collaborated for the second full-length album Migration released in 2021. White Stork, the song that opened that album, is presented here with the Bossk elements stripped back entirely, so it's now possible for the listener to immerse themselves in the disquieting noise drone textures the band added to Migration without distraction. Matthew Daly and Robin Southby of British instrumental quintet Maybeshewill contributed a beautiful piano rendition of The Reverie for inclusion on .4, which echoes the ambient neo-classical works of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnaulds and Philip Glass. The last collaboration comes courtesy of Canadian prog-psych duo Crown Lands who add moog synths, Tool-esque percussion and soaring dynamics to their interpretation of The Reverie II that completely revitalises and enhances the epic concluding track to Bossk's 2016 debut full-length Audio Noir.

Another lost treasure on .4 is Albert, a new song that has only been played once at ArcTanGent festival in 2019. Despite including it in that set, the band were never happy with it, until drummer Nick Corney completely reworked it into the version here, which displays the influence of electronic artists on Bossk such as Boards of Canada, Battles, Nine Inch Nails and DJ Shadow.
The remaining two tracks that make up this compilation were originally only available on 2008 live video .3. A remix of I by Twin Zero guitarist Reuben Gotto is the oldest song on .4, dating back to 2006 shortly after the band's debut EP release of the same name. The other track is 181 to Beulah, a song written by Bossk guitarist Alex Hamilton which, like Events Occur in Real Time, has only previously been released as a live track. The song, which is played entirely on guitar, ends this 65-minute collection on a sombre note, as gently reverberant chords ring out across a mellow bed of harmonious feedback, recalling the more tranquil, ambient experimentation of bands like This Will Destroy You and Hammock. As a segue-way into whatever the future may hold, it's about as laid-back and serene as Bossk has ever been.

With .4, Bossk fully intend to put a full stop on one era, before beginning a new chapter in 2026, a year which will see the release of a brand new full-length album of original material, their 3rd in total, and the recorded debut of vocalist Simon Wright, who has been playing with the band for the past 4 years and is now fully integrated into the band. - Remfry Dedman, March 2024

TRACK LISTING:
01. Kobe x Pijn
02. Truth II
03. Albert
04. Events Occur In Real Time
05. White Stork x Endon
06. I (Reuben Gotto 2006 Remix)
07. The Reverie x Maybeshewill
08. The Reverie II x Crown Lands
09. 181 To Beulah

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features remixed and reimagined tracks from the Bossk catalog
  • Collaborations with Maybeshewill, Crown Lands, Pijn and Endon
  • Supporting Maybeshewill this spring

FOR FANS OF:
Caspian, Cult Of Luna, This Will Destroy You

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Full Of Hell "Aurora Leaking From an Open Wound"

7"EP - $7.00
STREET DATE: 5/10/24
CAT#: FOH006
LABEL: Closed Casket Activities

Previously released as a tour exclusive, this EP features 3 exclusive songs available for the first time to everyone.

Recorded with Kevin Bernstein at Developing Nations
Mixed by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studio
Mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air
Artwork by Zachary Hobbs

TRACK LISTING:
01. Aurora Leaking
02. Swarming Hornets
03. Blinding Erasure

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Previous tour exclusive 7" reissued for retail
  • Three exclusive songs

FOR FANS OF:
Converge, Napalm Death, Melvins

Stretch Arm Strong "The Revealing"

12"EP - $17.25 / CDEP - $8.00
12"EP UPC: 724399772484
CDEP UPC: 724399772491
STREET DATE: 5/10/24
CAT#: IOD-60
LABEL: Iodine Recordings

After nearly two decades, kings of posi-hardcore Stretch Arm Strong are back with a pipebomb of an EP.

Formed in Columbia, South Carolina in 1992, Stretch Arm Strong quickly made a name for themselves in the world of hardcore with their frenetic musicianship and unflinching positivity that crossed boundaries of belief and genre. The band initially went on hiatus in 2008 but made a significant return at Furnace Fest 2021. The festival's energy was palpable, leading the band not only to reconnect with countless friends from shows over the years but also with each other, reminding them of how rewarding playing music in Stretch Arm Strong is.

It was only a matter of time before the question of coming back together to write new music would arise. Recording with Steve Evetts, who was initially slated to produce 1999's "Rituals of Life," turned out to be total kismet. Their combined chemistry shines through, displaying an energy that recalls their heaviest moments as a band. "It was really refreshing to put an exclamation mark on this thing," says guitarist David Sease. "We did it the way we wanted to, had a good time and expressed ourselves." The result of this is The Revealing, a true gem of a record and the model for what can be achieved on an EP.

From the outset, it doesn't sound like any time has passed since Stretch Arm Strong stopped. Opening track "The Mirror" slams forward with total ferocity and youthfulness, showcasing why they're still an important part of the scene. "Still Believe Part III" follows up on previous entries with an absolute crusher, concluding with a monster of a breakdown. On "Take a Stand," Stretch Arm Strong enlists Lou Koller from Sick of It All for a killer guest spot.

With six songs clocking in at under fifteen minutes, the EP's brevity is a testament to the lightning in a bottle Stretch Arm Strong captured by taking the stage once more. No longer being kids and now being full-fledged adults with families and worlds outside of music, the bond between Stretch Arm Strong and their love for playing is a testament to what this music means both for them and the countless listeners that have joined them throughout this time. It's a release that's worthy of the band's exceptional discography, and a record that can only exist with a once-in-a-lifetime friendship and focus that the band has.

TRACK LISTING:
01. The Mirror
02. Illuminating
03. Aspirations
04. Still Believe, Part III
05. Take a Stand (Feat. Sick of It All)
06. A Revealing

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Classic hardcore band from South Carolina, one of the most well known of their era!
  • First new recording in 20 years!
  • Features guest vocals from Lou Koller of Sick of It All
  • Produced by Steve Evetts (Deadguy, Lifetime, Snapcase, Hatebreed)
  • Mastered by Alan Douches (Converge, Earth Crisis, Dillinger Escape Plan)
  • Full PR Campaign and Radio Campaign Planned

FOR FANS OF:
Bane, Comeback Kid, H2O, Shai Hulud, Sick Of It All

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Zao "Live From The Church"

2xLP - $18.75 / CD/DVD/BLU-RAY - $14.65
2xLP UPC: 051497426934
CD/DVD/BLU-RAY UPC: 843563171585
STREET DATE: 5/10/24
CAT#: OOR-7
LABEL: Observed/Observer

In June of 2021, Zao entered The Church recording studio in Pittsburgh, PA where they had recorded The Crimson Corridor and filmed a live-in-studio performance for a special pay per view event. The result was Live From The Church, a career spanning 12-song set of Crimson Corridor songs mixed with rare and some never before performed deep cuts from the bands almost 30 year old catalog. Now available as a 3-disc set (CD/DVD/Blu-Ray with Bonus Features) and the audio soundtrack on a double LP vinyl release.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Into The Jaws Of Dread
02. Ship Of Theseus
03. If These Scars Could Speak
04. Human Cattle Masses Marching Forward
05. Haunting Pools
06. Croatoan
07. Transmission I: I Saw The End
08. A Well-Intentioned Virus
09. Romance Of The Southern Spirit
10. How Are The Weak Free
11. Ghost Psalm
12. The Latter Rain

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Double LP on 140gram Black Vinyl. Printed Insert with full lyrics and download code included.
  • 3 Disc CD/DVD/Blu-Ray set with the Live From The Church film, a behind the scenes featurette, and 5 music videos.
  • Summer tour with Capra and Frail Body

FOR FANS OF:
Converge, Every Time I Die, Neurosis

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Hate Force "Systems Of Terror"

LP - $17.25
STREET DATE: 5/10/24
CAT#: CLCR114
LABEL: Closed Casket Activities

HATE FORCE returns with their sophmore full length album SYSTEMS OF TERROR. Engineered and mixed by Andy Nelson (Bricktop Recording Studios) and mastered by Brad Boatright (Audiosiege). Ten new tracks of merciless death metal from members of Harm’s Way, Weekend Nachos and Like Rats. Featuring the artwork of Ethan McCathry (Hell Simulation).

TRACK LISTING:
01. Intro
02. Deformed
03. Descending Down
04. Total Violence
05. Power Master
06. Hateful Creator
07. Inevitable War
08. Massive Grave
09. Firing Squad
10. Pillaged

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features members of Harm's Way, Weekend Nachos and Like Rats

FOR FANS OF:
Sanguisugabogg, Harms Way, Frozen Soul

alovesopure "You'll Be a Memory"

LP - $17.25
STREET DATE: 5/3/24
CAT#: SDR-120
LABEL: Sunday Drive

alovesopure is from the creative mind of Tobby Davilmar (Collateral, Be All End All), an active participant in South Florida’s consistently vibrant hardcore scene. alovesopure is a very different project from Davilmar’s discography; focused on electronic music, pulling in various sounds ranging from drum ‘n’ bass, dance, hip-hop, and r&b. The ambient, electronic landscapes evoke energy and nostalgia from the early digital age of the 90s to the early 00’s, largely influenced by the likes of Björk, Aphex Twin and Goldie. “You’ll Be A Memory” has been in the works for years, and is the third full-length from Davilmar. It’s some of the most realized work from alovesopure that easily captivates the ear.

TRACK LISTING: 01. celestial
02. until it's my reality
03. where you are
04. castle in spain
05. blossomed pt. II
06. dream dancer
07. diary
08. vanguard award
09. crepuscular light
10. blanket

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Feat. member of Be All End All, Collateral

FOR FANS OF:
Björk, Aphex Twin, Goldie

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Harvestman "Triptych: Part One"

LP - $15.95 / CD - $9.60
LP UPC: 657628443018
CD UPC: 657628443025
STREET DATE: 4/26/24
CAT#: NR130
LABEL: Neurot

Triptych: Part One was recorded and mixed at The Crow's Nest in North Idaho by Steve Von Till who creates the movements using guitars, bass, synths, percussion, stock tank, loops, filters, and more. The record features guest contributions from Dave French (Yob) who performs stock tank percussion on "Nocturnal Field Song" and provides frequency consultation for the album, bass from Al Cisneros (Sleep, OM) on "Psilosynth" and "Harvest Dub," and John Goff (Cascadia Bagpiper) who plays Northumbrian smallpipes on "Mare And Foal." The narration on "Give Your Heart To The Hawk" is delivered through the poetry of Robinson Jeffers. The album was mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, KK Null, Earth) and completed with artwork and layout by Henry Hablak.

At its heart, music has always been a questioning of inheritance -- a dialogue with predecessors and forebears, the forging of one's own perspective in relation to what has come before, and for some, a plunge into the boundless realms between. For Steve Von Till, that process has always taken on an added dimension to become the most sacred of tasks. Whether through the apocalyptic uprising of Neurosis, the sonic deconstructions of their sister project, Tribes of Neurot, the invocatory intimacy of his eponymous solo albums or his instrumental psychedelic reveries in the guise of Harvestman, that dialogue has never just been with musical influences, but with what underpins them: the primordial, elemental forces now banished to the peripheries of our contemporary consciousness, yet still broadcasting a signal for all who will listen.

Released periodically on three of 2024's full moons -- April 23rd's Pink Moon, July 21st's Buck Moon and October 17th's Hunter Moon -- the three-album cycle, "Triptych", is Harvestman's most ambitious undertaking yet. But it's also the distillation of a unique approach that finds a continuity amongst the fragmented, treating all its myriad musical sources and reference points not as building bricks, but as tuning forks for a collective ancestral resonance, residing in that liminal space between the fundamental and the imaginary, the intrinsic and the speculative.

Drawn to the megaliths, ruins and ancient sites mapped out along the British and European mainland's geographical and psychic landscapes, the folklore and apocrypha forever resurfacing as portals from a rational world, "Triptych" is a meditation forged from traces and residues, and an hallucinatory recollection of artists who have tapped into that enduring otherworldliness embedded within us all. It's a dream diary narrating a passage through Summer Isle where Flying Saucer Attack are wafting out of a window, a distant Fairport Convention are being remixed by dub master Adrian Sherwood, celestial scanners Tangerine Dream are trying to drown out Bert Jansch and Hawkwind are playing Steeleye Span covers, all prised out of time yet bound to its singularity.

Woven together from home studio recordings that span two decades, this fifth outing as Harvestman finds parallels with nature's cycles not just in its release dates but in the repeated structure that binds each album, like an imprint refracted though three separate strata. "Part One", as with the forthcoming Parts Two and Three, starts on a collaboration with Om bassist and long-term friend of Steve's, Al Cisneros, with a dub take opening the B-Side. Here, the opening track "Psilosynth" orbits a grandfather-clock mechanism passing through a nebula haze, all waved on by an acid-fried deity. From there on, "Part One" journeys through the elegiac "Give Your Heart To The Hawk", with the sampled poetry like a documentary retrieved from a long-lost world, Philip Glass wistfully attending a rescue beacon from the far corner of the universe on Coma, as well as percussion recordings performed by Steve and friend Dave French (drummer of Yob) on a rusted torn open stock tank outside Steve's barn, treated bagpipes and old reel-to-reel recordings, all reiterated across the next volumes in ever more out-there contexts.

If "Triptych" is a multi- and extra-sensory experience, it extends to the remarkable glyph-style artwork of Henry Hablak, a map of correspondences from a long-forgotten ancient and advanced civilization. As with "Triptych" itself, it's an echo from another time, an act of binding, a guide to be endlessly reinterpreted, and a signpost to the sacred that might not indicate where to look, but how.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Psilosynth
02. Give Your Heart to the Hawk
03. Coma
04. Psilosynth (Harvest Dub)
05. How to Purify Mercury
06. Nocturnal Field Song
07. Mare and Foal

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features Steve Von Till of Neurosis
  • 5th Harvestman album
  • Part one of a three-part series with each releasing on a full moon

FOR FANS OF:
Steve Von Till, Neurosis, Wovenhand, Converge

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Time Pieces "Boundary Problems"

LP - $14.00
STREET DATE: 4/26/24
CAT#: MOM078
LABEL: Mind Over Matter

Time Pieces is made up of former members of Band of Horses, Minus the Bear & Six Parts Seven...and if you listen closely, you may hear tiny reminders of each of them throughout Boundary Problems. Allen Karpinski, Chris Early, Ian LeSage, Erin Tate and Tucker Handler got together to create this beautifully layered, largely instrumental album that weaves threads of shoegaze, post-rock, and late-90s Midwest indie into something of their own throughout the course of their debut full length.

If you close your eyes and allow the music to transport you, you will find yourself smack dab in the middle of a dreary, Midwestern winter. It's half-melted outside, too cold to leave your jacket at home but too warm to truly necessitate one. You've got your headphones on as you walk to your destination despite the blustery wind. You've got a lot on your mind, but you're keeping yourself busy with errands and this is the soundtrack to being alone...even if you're not lonely.

Sure, this is definitely a supergroup of indie artists, but they have forged a terrific path that somehow resembles each of their respective bands while also finding a sound that is entirely unique and their own.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Extra Strata
02. Boundary Problems
03. New Bruise/Black and Blue
04. Separation Song
05. Radiometric Dating
06. 90's Guitar Music

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features former members of Band of Horses, Minus the Bear & Six Parts Seven

FOR FANS OF:
Band of Horses, Minus The Bear, Anathallo, Mice Parade

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Various Artists "Don't Fall In Love With Yourself"

VHS - $18.75
STREET DATE: 4/26/24
CAT#: 31GLUNCHMEAT
LABEL: Three One G

Don't Fall in Love With Yourself is a documentary that explores the life of enigmatic musician and artist, Justin Pearson. From childhood tragedy and his roots in the San Diego punk scene, to his appearance on Jerry Springer and rise to cult celebrity status. An in-depth look at a career made out of blood, sweat and spit.

Much of the B-roll has been sourced from dozens of VHS & Mini-DV tapes recorded over the past three decades. Controversial and never-before-seen footage of one of the most interesting and unique musical movements is recent memory.

The film's interviews include Justin Pearson, Dave Lombardo, Eric Paul, Gabe Serbian, Bobby Bray, Travis Ryan, Jeremy Bolm, Jon Syverson, Molly Neuman & Becky DiGiglio and more.

TRACK LISTING:
01. The Perils of Believing in Round Squares - The Locust
02. Stop Flushing the Toilet
03. Red, White, and You - Struggle
04. It's a (Half) Pipe Dream
05. Intro to Photography - Swing Kids
06. The Ironic Assholism of Hardy Jenns
07. Radiation Blue - The Crimson Curse
08. I Hope You Don't Get the Joke
09. Psycho 75 - The Crimson Curse
10. Something to Guac About
11. The Half Eaten Sausage Would Like to See You in His Office - The Locust
12. The Hill of Fool's Gold
13. Warsaw - Swing Kids
14. AOTKPTA - The Locust
15. No Poetry Needed
16. Elephant in the Doom
17. Mature Science - Retox
18.. Myddel Fyngir
19. Old Age Lasts Too Long - Justin Pearson/ Gabe Serbian
20. Mind Meld
21. ZZ Stop
22. Rasquache
23. Come Bogeyman - Planet B

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features interviews include Justin Pearson, Dave Lombardo, Eric Paul, Gabe Serbian, Bobby Bray, Travis Ryan, Jeremy Bolm, Jon Syverson, Molly Neuman & Becky DiGiglio and more!

FOR FANS OF:
The Locust, Swing Kids, Retox, Planet B

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Full Of Hell "Coagulated Bliss"

LP - $17.25 / CD - $8.00
LP UPC: 197190876840
CD UPC: 198391183157
STREET DATE: 4/26/24
CAT#: CLCR130
LABEL: Closed Casket Activities

Full of Hell burst forth with incredible force from the small, dagger-shaped city of Ocean City, Maryland, 15 years ago. Over five full-lengths, five collaborative full-lengths, and countless splits, EPs, singles, and noise compilations, they've evolved at extraordinary speed, their music becoming more complicated and technical without ever slowing down or losing its soul. Everything on a Full of Hell album feels like a blur: smears of guitar, harsh noise shaken like gravel in a bag, singer Dylan Walker's snarl and bite carrying him into outer space or into the core of the earth. They're coiled, interlocking, impossible to penetrate, and they move with alarming speed.

They have now reached terminal velocity. Having created their own context, they're now able to walk around within it, to survey its terrain, to visit far corners and see who's nearby. Coagulated Bliss sounds like Full of Hell, but it's nothing like any Full of Hell record that's come before it. These songs are trimmer, less freighted with anxiety, more interested in opening up than speeding away. Its bile is sometimes funneled into traditional song structures. It never shies away from the extreme harsh noise, unrelenting spirit, and pitch-black sadness of previous Full of Hell records; if anything, the leanness of these songs makes them feel even heavier. Nevertheless, there are tracks here you might find yourself whistling hours after listening. It's an extraordinary and unexpected evolution in sound for a band who made their name on rapid metamorphosis, and it's the logical endpoint of everything Full of Hell has covered so far. "I wanted to try to take every aspect of what we've done from previous releases and integrate it into this one," guitarist Spencer Hazard says.

Coagulated Bliss was written and recorded shortly after the band completed When No Birds Sang, their collaborative album with Nothing. Working with the Philadelphia shoegazers gave Full of Hell new insight into the emotional and artistic power of classic pop songwriting, and to the importance of following a song where it wants to go. "That was a good experience of learning how to find what actually services a song," Hazard says. "Even with Roots of Earth Are Consuming My Home, even when we've had an extreme grindcore influence, I still wanted it to be catchy." Walker also cites the band's work with The Body for helping him to "recognize that there was value in pop music." Accordingly, Coagulated Bliss features some of Full of Hell's strongest songwriting: Gone is the frenetic flailing of Garden of Burning Apparitions and Weeping Choir; in its stead is a richer, thicker sound, one that's considerably less ornamented--and somehow heavier than ever.

These songs feel huge, totemic, groundshaking. In "Gelding of Men," the entire band hammers away at one chord, stomping it into the ground at mid-tempo, blasts of horns helping to push.The numbskull stomp of "Doors to Mental Agony" sets up a circle pit, blasts it apart with a grindcore chorus, then slides away on a slanted riff. In the title track, they bounce back and forth on a thick groove, punctuated with occasional cowbells and scratched up by Walker's scream, barrel into a pummeling chorus, then jump back out onto the dance floor.

While the focus on songwriting already makes Coagulated Bliss the most grounded album in Full of Hell's catalog, it's also the first Full of Hell record that tries in earnest to reflect the world around it--not in some broad, monotony-of-evil way, but the everyday horrors of life in small town America. Three of the four members of the band were raised in Ocean City. Hazard and Bland still live there, while Walker is located in central Pennsylvania and bassist Samuel DiGristine relocated to Philadelphia. "The American dream is small towns," Hazard says. "But anyone that's grown up in a small town realizes it's just as fucked up in a small town as it is in a big city--if not more, because it's more condensed."

Walker's lyrics have always framed their suffering with what he calls "fantastical, metaphorical shit," but on Coagulated Bliss his writing is clear and direct. The album's title is meant partly to reflect the idea of the over-pursuit of happiness leading to misery--whether in addiction, greed, or anything else. "Your happiness is just out of reach and you don't know why," he says. "Too much of this bliss, you think you've found your endpoint, but it's really just this small, tiny, little thing that's going to ruin your fucking life. And that could be anything." Much of the album is rooted in the band's own experiences. "A hundred dead ends, a thousand dead friends," Walker screams on "Doors to Mental Agony." "I hear their howling, I hear them weeping." There are corpses slicked with morning dew, "false balms for deep wounds," numb failures, thieves in the night and killers in the dark. There are many trackmarks; there are many dirty needles.

The album's viciousness and Walker's clear reading of the world around him might scan as misanthropy--"humanity to blame," he concludes after running through the ways the earth is "riddled with sores" in "Gasping Dust"--but it comes from a place of disappointment that's driven by a deep love for people and life and the world. "There's not a lot of anger, to be honest," he says. "I've never felt anger when we're playing, ever. It feels like electricity that's built up in my body that has to get out. But I feel more profoundly sorrowful than I ever do anger."

The world may be in a constant state of bitter flux, but Full of Hell have never sounded more at home in it."We've shed any kind of 'do we belong in this space, what do people expect of us,'" Walker says. "The joy is in the pursuit." The loosening of their grip on the direction of their music has made it feel paradoxically closer to the bone. "People tend to burrow themselves so deeply into things they love," Walker says. "It's too much of a good thing, and it almost cheapens it." By paring back their sound, Full of Hell aren't just finding a new way forward: They're proving that a little bit less of a good thing can add up to so much more.

Coagulated Bliss was recorded at Developing Nations in Baltimore by Kevin Bernstein, mixed by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studio in Van Nuys California and mastered by Nick Townsend of Infrasonic Sound in Los Angeles California. Full of Hell is Spencer Hazard (guitar/electronics), David Bland (drums/vocals), Samuel DiGristine (bass/sax/vocals), and Dylan Walker (vocals/electronics/lyrics), with new guitarist Gabriel Solomon joining following the album's completion. Coagulated Bliss is out April 26 via Closed Casket Activities.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Half Life Changelings
02. Doors to Mental Agony
03. Transmuting Chemical Burns
04. Fractured Bonds to Mecca
05. Coagulated Bliss
06. Bleeding Horizon
07. Vomiting Glass
08. Schizoid Rupture
09. Vacuous Dose
10. Gasping Dust
11. Gelding of Men
12. Malformed Ligature

MARKETING POINTS:

  • On tour with Dying Fetus this Spring
  • Recorded by Kevin Bernstein, mixed by Taylor Young, and mastered by Nick Townsend

FOR FANS OF:
Converge, Melvins, Napalm Death, Sonic Youth

AGONISTA "Grey And Dry"

LP - $17.90
STREET DATE: 4/26/24
CAT#: AL-044
LABEL: Armageddon Label

Agonista is a band made up of longtime friends, featuring current and ex-members of Bumbklaat, DFMK, Run For Your Fucking Life, Spanakorzo, Sweep The Leg Johnny, Swing Kids, Some Girls and many others. Their five song EP "Embusteros" was released in 2018, now they are ready to finally to unleash "Grey And Dry" for people to hear.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Larvas
02. Grey And Dry
03. Abuse/Diffuse
04. Eyes Of Despair
05. Bazofia
06. MMXXIII
07. Medication
08. In Haste
09. Muertos
10. Wrecked Inside
11. MMXLIII

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Debut Full Length
  • Recorded and mixed by Patrick Alexander at Cacho Estudio in Tijuana (Habak, Violencia, Abyssal)
  • Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Converge, Dropdead, Tragedy)

FOR FANS OF:
Tragedy, Wolfbrigade, Discharge, Skitsystem, Bumbklaatt

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Retox "Beneath California"

LP - $17.50
STREET DATE: 4/19/24
CAT#: 31G079
LABEL: Three One G

The world is falling apart one day at a time, and the majority of us sit and watch as if attending a public hanging--more and more, our interest is piqued by the appalling, while our thoughts and reactions remain largely absent. When stripped of the bloated, festering egos that so many cling to in order to feel important, we are nothing more than ugly animals. In a society that is predominantly dormant, Retox brings this reality to the forefront in a forward-thinking way, commanding our ever-rapidly-decreasing attention spans and determined to provoke some kind of visceral response, good or bad.

Consisting of Justin Pearson (The Locust, Deaf Club, Swing Kids), Michael Crain (Festival of Dead Deer, Dead Cross), Brian Evans, and Keith Hendriksen (Kill the Capulets, Virginia Reed), Retox is marked by a speed and sound that seeks to shatter apathy. Since their conception in 2011, they have toured with similarly like-minded acts such as Melt-Banana, Tomahawk, OFF!, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Doomsday Student, physically bringing every bit as much intensity as the music itself incites intellectually.

Coming off of their sophomore album, "YPLL" (Years of Potential Life Lost), Retox have emerged from the collective depths of San Diego and Los Angeles with their latest antagonistic efforts, entitled "Beneath California". Varying styles and sonically experimenting, melding the raw with the refined, the band continuously teases yet never settles on any one genre-- aside from perhaps (as members of the band itself have referred to their work) "annoying". Tracks such as "Death Will Change Your Life" spit cynical lyrics drenched in rapid-fire rhythm: "All those who have died before me, forgot trustees, cleaned streets with parolees/They dragged everything into the sea, the filth and the debris, and hoped none would see."

Overall, Retox simultaneously seems to reflect and defy, using music as a way of holding a broken mirror to the rest of us, exposing different pieces of our own fucked up realities, and forcing the acknowledgement of the inevitable self-imposed apocalypse we are creating for ourselves.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Die In Your Own Cathedral
02. We Know Who's The Prick
03. The Savior, The Swear Word
04. Let's Not Keep In Touch
05. Disappointing Grade
06. The Inevitable End
07. This Should Hurt A Little Bit
08. Death Will Change Your Life
09. Without Money, We'd All Be Rich
10. You're Only A Crook If You Get Caught
11. Wooden Nickels
12. Strong Wrong Opinion

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Updated Packaging
  • Band featured Justin Pearson (The Locust, Deaf Club, Swing Kids), Michael Crain (Festival of Dead Deer, Dead Cross), Brian Evans, and Keith Hendriksen (Kill the Capulets, Virginia Reed)

FOR FANS OF:
Dead Cross, Deaf Club, Swing Kids, The Festival of Dead Deer

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Couch Slut "You Could Do It Tonight"

LP - $17.25 / CD - $8.00 / CASSETTE - $8.00
STREET DATE: 4/19/24
CAT#: BPR-100
LABEL: Brutal Panda

NYC's resident misfits Couch Slut have played a veritable strain of drug-fueled, incendiary noise rock since 2013. Led by Megan Osztrosits' infernal roar and subversive, vitriolic lyrics, the quintet returns with their fourth full-length opus You Could Do It Tonight, just in time for America's only holiday that matters...4/20.

Recorded amidst the filth of NYC with Uniform's Ben Greenberg (Drab Majesty, Portrayal of Guilt, Metz), Couch Slut subverts the paradigm and ups the ante in every imaginable way across nine vignettes of perverse, true-to-life storytelling layered over the band's singular, dragged-through-the-mud songcraft. This is a depraved style of noise rock that will scare the living shit out of you. With ten full years of pain and suffering under its proverbial belt, Couch Slut sounds more urgent, threatening, nasty and despondent than ever. The perfect soundtrack for 2024.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Couch Slut Lewis
  2. Ode To Jimbo
  3. Wilkinson's Sword
  4. The Donkey
  5. Presidential Welcome
  6. Energy Crystals for Healing
  7. Downhill Racer
  8. Laughing and Crying
  9. The Weaversville Home For Boys

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Produced by Uniform's Ben Greenberg (Drab Majesty, Portrayal of Guilt, Metz)
  • On tour with Intercourse this Spring
  • On tour with Great Falls this Summer
  • "Startlingly unique and contemporary...Unremittingly ugly." -Pitchfork

FOR FANS OF:
Today is the Day, Chat Pile, Oxbow, Cloud Rat, Body Void, KEN Mode, Thou, Full of Hell, Kowloon Walled City, Yautja

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Heavenly Blue “We Have The Answer”

LP - $17.25
LP UPC:791689666112
STREET DATE: 4/12/24
CAT#: SV26
LABEL: Secret Voice

Heavenly Blue are unwavering in their deep punk roots. The artists responsible for crafting a sound now over 25 years old are not only reemerging, but sharing the stage with influenced younger musicians who thought they would never get the opportunity. Heavenly Blue's maximalist approach shows through their 7 member ensemble's composition, their emotional sound and communal style of songwriting across miles and various locations captures the spirit that bands from their era and those past are championed on a philosophical level. In other words, Heavenly Blue are a modern update to an overlooked form, and the title of their debut LP, We Have The Answer, is an apt and promising description of the period in which the sound now finds itself.

The Detroit, MI based septet consists of vocalists Juno Parsons and Mel Caren, guitarists Kris Lane, Maya Chun, and Mac Porter, and a rhythm section consisting of bassist Jon Riley and drummer Andrew Coughlin. From the end of Chun's and Riley's previous band Youth Novel, the pair enlisted a number of Michigan musicians of varying levels of experience, exchanging demos with each other over the course of a year. From there, Heavenly Blue toured with bands like Frail Body, Venus Twins, Blind Girls, and Touché Amoré. Through their connection to Touché Amoré's vocalist Jeremy Bolm, the band produced their first track, "Certain Distance," for a compilation on Bolm's imprint Secret Voice Records. On Heavenly Blue's collaborative spirit and how it has led them to this point, Riley asserts,

"The title invokes an unquestionable certainty, yet without thinking about exactly who or what "we" is, you may miss the point. The process of making this record involved a deeply collaborative process where every single member of the group put their whole selves into the music. The result is a statement I feel is deeply personal of what I want out of a record. Something loud and blistering, but hopefully still visceral."

Heavenly Blue's style is earmarked by screamo's familiar dynamics of harmony and dissonance played both to complement and work against each other. For them, it's about bringing screamo sensibilities to noise rock and post-hardcore. On We Have The Answer, they explore the traditional pairing of heavy/ugly and soft/pretty, but additionally approaches the concept's inverse, playing melodies violently and fast complex passages softly. Heavenly Blue also mixes in hardcore influence with mid-song breakdowns as verses.

We Have The Answer continually begs the same emotional analysis that aggressive music has demanded and rarely received for decades. Tracks like "We Have The Answer" and "Davos" carry the spirit of the band's past while other tracks, like "Heat Death Parade" and "Pando" sit in the realm of Heavenly Blue's noise rock contemporaries. Heavenly Blue demonstrates it can do a more traditional structure, with songs like album single "Static Voice Speaks To Static Me" and the pensive "…And Just Like That A Year Had Passed," while the unexpectedly danceable yet deeply melodic "A Part Of Me, A Part Of You" all offer refreshing takes on the chorus-verse mode of songwriting, while also challenging listeners to contemplate their repurposing of otherwise straightforward rhythms.

We Have The Answer's release through Jeremy Bolm's Secret Voice Records also highlights the intergenerational cooperation that has come to be one of the most exciting aspects of punk in the 2020's. In its own way, it highlights the statement that Heavenly Blue are making with the title of their work. The sense of community within the artists involved suggests a shared idea of purpose that is not common enough in music. If you have to ask what "the answer" is, Heavenly Blue insists upon listening and attending a show near you. Look for the answer within. Hopefully the seed is sown and you'll understand.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Davos
  2. We Have The Answer
  3. Pando
  4. Glass So Clear
  5. Certain Distance
  6. Static Voice Speaks to Static Me
  7. ...And Like That, A Year Had Passed
  8. A Part Of Me, A Part Of You
  9. Looming
  10. Heat Death Parade
  11. All Of The Piece Break

MARKETING POINTS:

  • US tour with Frail Body in March
  • Appeared on the Secret Voice comp "Balladeers, Redefined" in 2022

FOR FANS OF:
Saetia, Jemores Dream, Pageninetynine

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Gemm "Spun Out"

12"EP - $14.00
STREET DATE: 4/5/24
CAT#: PRO-090
LABEL: Protagonist Music

There's something decidedly comforting about 90's music, namely its wellspring of memorable alternative rock. The seismic shift in artistry of those times aside, there is a warm-fuzzy feeling that albums like "Nevermind" and "Siamese Dream" elicit from listeners then and now. Gemm makes a show of that nostalgic evocation, crafting a tone and style that is just as reverent as it is refreshing. Stepping into the studio in Arizona with producer/engineer Zach Rippy (Defeater, Common Wounds, Fleshwater) they created their newest and most fully realized effort yet, "Spun Out." Marrying the tectonic melodicism of The Smashing Pumpkins with the esoteric songwriting of Title Fight or Nirvana, with added dashes of pop sensibility and Alice in Chains grit, their always evolving sound has an almost alchemic quality. Reverential songcraft meets youthful abandon across a group of tracks that will stick in your head for days. Akin to contemporaries such as Basement and Superheaven, the magic of Gemm is poised to twist alt-rock and grunge-pop into ever more eclectic, fuzzy, anthemic forms that are wholly unique to them.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Trying To Feel
  2. Fever Dream
  3. No Escape
  4. Dizzy
  5. World On Fire
  6. Split

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Produced by Zach Rippy (Defeater, Common Wounds, Fleshwater) at Sound Signal Audio

FOR FANS OF:
Superheaven, Title Fight, Basement, Militarie Gun, Silverchair

Xibalba "Aztlán"

12"EP - $17.25
12"EP UPC: 197190225051
STREET DATE: 4/5/24
CAT#: CLCR122
LABEL: Closed Casket Activities

Four new songs from Southern California's own Xibalba. Pressed as a one sided 12" with a screen printed B side and packaged in a matte lp jacket complimented with UV spot varnish. Recorded and Mixed by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studio and Mastered by Brad Boatright of Audiosiege.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Descending Into…
02. The Place of Fear
03. Death & Revenge
04. Aztlán (FYP)

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Recorded and Mixed by Taylor Young
  • Mastered by Brad Boatright
  • Features Screen Printed B-Side

FOR FANS OF:
Crowbar, Terror, God's Hate

Soul Glo "Songs To Yeet At Then Sun"

12"EP - $17.25
12"EP UPC: 791689666204
STREET DATE: 4/5/24
CAT#: SV17
LABEL: Secret Voice

If you gave Soul Glo a snapshot of what was in store for them in 2020 at the end of their first practice in 2014, you might put the space time continuum in flux. If you were to tell vocalist Pierce Jordan and guitarist Ruben Polo that everything that they had spent their first month as a band joking about, playing shows with artists from punk vets Paint It Black to Kurt Cobain's favorites Flipper; from Memphis underground legend Tommy Wright III to platinum producer Pi'erre Bourne, were to actually happen, they might ask you if your hands were as fast as your jokes were. Despite the constant barrage of setbacks, from member changes, to financial strife, to run-ins with the law, Soul Glo has both repeatedly defied the kinds of odds that would fold lesser bands, not to mention their own standards for what they believed they could endure. Simultaneously, stopping or slowing down has never exactly been on the table for them, either.

"When we were stranded in Missouri, we started to weigh out the pros and cons of relocating there. We weren't just about to leave our mans," Jordan says. "Songs started getting crafted out there that we still have in the chamber."

That said, their next release, Songs To Yeet At The Sun, serves as a perfect respite from the silence in between LP's and the current lull in live performances that the band has become known for nationwide. The five song blessing gives a further insight into the frankly deranged production of bassist/producer Gianmarco Guerra, who served as the sole producer and one of three engineers for the record. Songs like "(Quietly) Do The Right Thing" and "29" continue to show Soul Glo's affinity for speed as a vehicle for their aggression and messages, while songs like "I'm On Probation" and the previously released "Mathed Up" shows the bands love of chaotic-yet-atmospheric noise and the most popular rhythmic vocal styles of today's current rap on top of the pummelling heaviness of the drums of TJ Stevenson. The band continues to showcase the rhythmic synergy existing between the entirety of the ensemble throughout the record, while the song "2K" features the straightforward rap production that peeked through on crowd-favorite songs "31" and "32" on the bands previous record The Nigga In Me Is Me, and also features a verse with instantly quotable lines from Richmond, VA artist Archangel.

All things considered, in a year where it feels as though quite literally anything could happen at any given moment, a record like the one that Soul Glo shorthandledly refers to as Yeet, one that features a violent and compelling sonic fusion that only they are capable of, is deeply necessary to times in which we currently find ourselves. In times where we are simply trying to survive from one minute to the next, one day to the next, it feels good in its own way, less lonely perhaps, to have music that reflects that uncertainty and fear.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. (Quietly) Do The Right Thing
  2. 29
  3. 2k featuring Archangel
  4. Mathed Up
  5. I'm On Probation

MARKETING POINTS:

  • One Sided 12"EP w/ Silk Screened B-Side
  • Mixed and Mastered by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Gouge Away)
  • Touring History with Touché Amoré, Gouge Away, Jeromes Dream
  • Secret Voice Label is owned and operated by Jeremy Bolm, vocalist of Touché Amoré and Hesitation Wounds

FOR FANS OF:
Denzel Curry, Jeromes Dream, Gulch

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NØ MAN "Glitter and Spit"

LP - $17.25 / CD - $8.00
LP UPC: 724399772453
CD UPC: 724399772460
STREET DATE: 3/29/24
CAT#: IOD-59
LABEL: Iodine Recordings

"Will you die with your eyes open?"

Washington D.C.'s NØ MAN is a necessary and much-needed voice in modern hardcore. Formed in 2017, the four-piece punk band has been alchemizing the personal and the political from the jump. Composed of members from Majority Rule, the band's current aims go hand-in-hand with their past, sonically and thematically.

Their upcoming album Glitter and Spit is the band's third full-length LP, solidifying their furious hardcore into a weapon of a record. Album opener "Eat My Twin" twists and refracts a mid-tempo riff into a sonic hammer, cracking open the record's heaviness to come. Singer Maha Shami has fully come into her own as a frontperson, snarling out the most vicious vocals of her career on "Poison Darts."

As the daughter of refugees, returning home to Palestine included witnessing first-hand the casual atrocities inflicted on her family. Though written before the current conflict's boiling point, Glitter and Spit synthesizes the 70+ years of systemic violence carried out against Palestine and her own lived experiences. From school teachers and classmates telling her Palestine doesn't exist, to being humiliated by soldiers at checkpoints when she visited her family, these many moments fuel the album's lifeblood, coalescing on "Can't Kill Us All."

"They want to silence us," Shami said at a recent benefit show in D.C. "We will be louder. We aren't fucking going anywhere. Because Palestine will never die." Glitter and Spit is a much-needed fire of an album, fueled by the anxieties and anger of the now, erupting in a cathartic inferno.

The band's members Matt Michel (guitar/vocals), Pat Broderick (drums) and Kevin Lamiell (Bass) helped lay the foundation for hardcore and screamo in Majority Rule from 1996 to 2004. Alongside the band, vocalist Maha Shami has been a longtime friend, giving a "cameo" guest vocal performance on Majority Rule's "Packaged Poison" in 2004. When Majority Rule reunited in 2017 to perform multiple benefit shows, it ignited a desire to keep creating, and no one was better equipped to step in as front person than Shami.

Their energy and spirit have brought them together on tour with bands like Portrayal of Guilt, Darkest Hour, FAIM, Entry and more. In 2023 they collaborated with former tourmates and fellow iconoclasts The HIRS Collective on the song "Sweet Like Candy." They've also contributed to Secret Voice's (the label of Touche Amore frontman Jeremy Bolm) compilation Balladeers, Redefined.

Glitter and Spit was recorded and mixed by Matthew Michel at Viva Studio, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Eat my Twin
  2. Glitter and Spit
  3. Poison Darts
  4. Eye Spy
  5. God's Neighborhood
  6. March of Ides
  7. Can't Kill Us All
  8. Monument to Pleasure
  9. Burning Skulls
  10. Damaar

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features ex-members of Majority Rule
  • Guest vocals from Kat Lanzillo of FAIM
  • Previous touring history w/ Portrayal of Guilt, Darkest Hour, The Hirs Collective, Strike Anywhere, Pg.99, Jeromes Dream, FAIM, and more.
  • Previous album "ERASE" listed as one of the Best Punk Records of 2020 by Brooklyn Vegan
  • Mastered by Brad Boatright (The Armed, DRAIN, Code Orange, Defeater)

FOR FANS OF:
Gel, Tragedy, Gouge Away, Nausea, Scowl

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Leaving "Liminal"

LP - $14.65
STREET DATE: 3/29/24
CAT#: PRO-095
LABEL: Protagonist

Leaving, who hail from Oakland, CA, meld the heavy distortion of doom metal with the ethereal textures of shoegaze, forging an audio landscape that is devastatingly hypnotic and dripping with sorrow. Founded in 2021, they are a seasoned group of sonic architects who include members of Noothgrush, Amber Asylum, Graves at Sea, Lycus, and Funerary among them. Leaving weaves a musical tapestry that plunges listeners into the abyss with shadowy vocals adding emotional depth and somber undertones to their enormous sound. Lyrically they delve into themes of desolation, depression, loneliness, introspection, and the shadows that lurk within the human psyche. Leaving’s music paints a bleak but vivid, almost gossamer picture of a world consumed by decay. This interplay of light and shadow, coupled with an underlying heaviness, creates an atmosphere that is bound to envelop the listener in a shroud of mesmerizing gloom. With each note, the band invites you into the liminal space they’ve crafted – a space between worlds, emotions, and musical genres. Anticipate a profound sonic journey as Leaving sets the stage on their debut album, promising an immersive exploration of the thresholds of emotive heavy music. Are you ready to leave?

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Slow Motion Collapse
  2. Broken Flame
  3. I’m Just Resting My Eyes (Interlude)
  4. Downturn
  5. Hollow Ache
  6. Liminal

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Featuring members of Graves at Sea, Noothgrush, Lycus, Funerary, Amber Asylum.
  • Recorded by Greg Wilkinson (Deathgrave, Autopsy, Graves At Sea, Necrot) at Earhammer Studios.
  • Mastered by Nick Basset (Whirr, Nothing)
  • Cover painting by the late Mariusz Lewandowski.

FOR FANS OF:
Nothing, Holy Fawn, Windhand, Hum, Grivo, Whirr