Somnuri fight tooth and nail, Monster Magnet dust off another classic, Solus Ex Inferis cross the great divide, Concrete are headed for a hot foot — and they’re not the only ones raising the temperature in today’s Midweek Roundup. Somebody open a window:
31 | Somnuri | Tooth & Nail
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn progressive sludge juggernauts Somnuri unleash a blistering video from their upcoming sophomore album Nefarious Wave. Directed by drummer Phil SanGiacomo, the frantic and almost claustrophobic feel of the new video perfectly matches the energy of Tooth & Nail. Guitarist and vocalist Justin Sherrell explains: “Tooth & Nail has always felt like an exorcising of the demons, it’s volatile and quick to the point. Lyrically, I was talking about my struggle maintaining healthy relationships, both personal friendships that felt impossible to continue and an intimate relationship that was falling apart at the time. It wasn’t so much a song about heartbreak or loss but more about clawing and hanging on to something potentially detrimental to both parties. It ultimately mirrors my own personal bout with addiction, emphasized by the hook, ‘till death do we part’.”
32 | Monster Magnet | Learning To Die
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Psychedelic rock icons Monster Magnet’s rabbit hole deep-dive A Better Dystopia (out May 21), is a delightfully (and psychotically) curated collection of ’60s and ’70s proto-metal and late-era psych obscurities covered by the heavy New Jersey legends. While the album marks a new frontier for Monster Magnet as their first covers record, this is not your typical set of standards released to pass time. A Better Dystopia sees the band pay homage to some of their favorite songs of all time, while reflecting on the paranoia, dystopia and revolution of both now and then. Today, fans can get a second glimpse into the album with a video of the band’s cover of classic Dust track Learning To Die.”
33 | Solus Ex Inferis | Constructing The Great Divide
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Constructing The Great Divide is a killer track off of Solus Ex Inferis’ debut album. It features an excellent guitar solo by Bleak Flesh guitarist Matias Quiroz, who features on five out of the seven songs on the album. Frontman Sahil Makhija adds, “Constructing The Great Divide is a song about human exploitation. How people are divided by religion, race, and other parameters. It’s about how man created the illusion of God and used that as a tool to control the masses. It’s about how propaganda is used to create hate and spread lies which is exploited by politicians and religious leaders to feed their lust for power and greed for wealth. It questions war and how national pride is sold to us.”
34 | Concrete | Path Of Fire
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Albany hardcore unit Concrete released their battering album Free Us From Existence in August. To continue the brutal onslaught, they has turned the page on the next chapter with their Path of Fire video, an eerie synopsi, delving deep into one’s personal plight to fight against following the herd. Vocalist Lenny Fletcher describes Path of Fire as “The path we walk to free ourselves, outside the scope of society’s restraints.”
35 | Rocking Corpses | War For Doom
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Finland’s Rocking Corpses are a putrid mix of rock, death metal, zombies, other horror themes and some really black humour. They release their second studio album Death Blues on July 2. A new single and video War For Doom arrived today. The band comment: “War for Doom was created in dawn of our studio sessions. We were listening to our demos and thinking that the album may be lacking one faster song so we geared up and this tune was ready before sundown. Vocals were finished by Laze during sessions and while the song may be a bit out of the general line of the album, it successfully finishes the loose story of the album.”
36 | Ice War | Sacred Land
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Canadian heavy metallers Ice War just released a lyric video for Sacred Land, the second single and title cut from their upcoming album,to be released on May 18. Ice War is formed solely by Jo Capitalicide (also in Aphrodite) and although his previous four albums followed a style closer to speed metal, in Sacred Land, Jo has decided to make a turn towards the more epic sounds of Black Sabbath at times.”
37 | Black Label Society | Blind Man
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Black Label Society just released their first career spanning box set titled None More Black. Featuring their 12 studio albums, this massive collection includes 20 vinyl LPs, along with a compilation of bonus tracks and reworked originals title Song Remains Not The Same Vol. 2. To celebrate the release, BLS dropped a video for Blind Man, a bonus track previously only found on Catacombs of the Black Vatican.”
38 | JP Harris | Closer to the Mill (ft. Chance McCoy)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “JP Harris’ Dreadful Wind & Rain explores Harris’s long roots in Appalachian stringband music, a scene where he’s better known by his nickname “Squash,” turning up at festivals and picking parties with his handbuilt banjos and playing all night. To record the project, Harris went into the mountains of West Virginia with longtime musical pal Chance McCoy (from Old Crow Medicine Show until recently), and the two of them recorded it all in McCoy’s old sharecropper cabin on his rural property. The album rings with gothic tones from Harris’ detuned banjos, and the songs reach all the way back to pagan antiquity. This is old music done the old way.”
39 | Will Stratton | Black Hole
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With his new album The Changing Wilderness due for release on May 7, Will Stratton shares the single Black Hole and its intriguing video. Stratton says: “I wrote Black Hole shortly after our last president took office. I had spent the morning of the inauguration staring at a sculpture, a neon wall by Dan Flavin in the basement of a local museum. I tried to capture the energy that I felt staring at the green light in the dark. The song is about fascists and authoritarians of all kinds, how hard they are to completely shake once they take hold in the public consciousness, and how they tend to warp the minds of everyone in their proximity, even their opposition.”
40 | Stone Jack Jones | I’m Made
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Back in March, Stone Jack Jones released the double single I’m Made and Heaven Knows with Adia Victoria. Today he’s releasing a special live rendition of the track live from his Paris apartment. Victoria is absent but a host of talented musicians reworks the song into this haunting special rendition.”
41 | Brianna Perry | Fied Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rapper Brianna Perry shares the video for Fied Up. Perry wields a flamethrower and wears outfits that can only be described as camp. The song is meant to be blasted with the windows rolled down. The single comes from her upcoming album Boss Bitch Boulevard out May 28. The 10-track LP struts through Perry’s figurative boulevard with blunt and gritty rhymes that epitomize female empowerment. Perry doesn’t shy away from expressing her power to its fullest extent on this album. Perry said, “Boss Bitch Boulevard is queen music. For the bold, the unapologetic and to remind yourself that you are That Bitch! I’d like to empower and inspire strong women and encourage others to be strong, and, to be the voice for young women who know who they are and what they want.”
42 | Blood Lemon | One More Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With their self-titled debut album out Friday, post-riot grrrl trio Blood Lemon — featuring bassist and first female member of Built to Spill, Melanie Radford — shared a final preview with the single and video for One More Time. While the video doubles as an epic love letter to sci-fi, Melanie says the song “is about realizing that you’re becoming a product of your own destruction. You’re doing it to yourself but can’t find the means to get out of that cycle so you keep going in vicious circles.” The album explores our modern state of discontent — climate change, American politics, social justice, and navigating adulthood as women — through a medley of ’90s alternative vibes, heavy riffs and melting harmonies.”
43 | Anomalie / Chromeo | Bend The Rules (Mndsgn Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After a successful 2020 collaboration EP, Montreal producer/artist Anomalie reunites with Grammy-winning and Juno-heralded duo Chromeo to launch Bend The Rules Deluxe — a take on their original featuring remixes by an array of stellar producers. “Remixes were a huge part of how Chromeo blew up in the early days,” says Dave 1. “Our music was able to circulate and infiltrate other sub-communities, within the electronic scene. We firmly believe in the remix as an art form.”
44 | Nancy Wenstrom | Alabama Song
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fremont, California Americana/blues-rock musician Nancy Wenstrom has released the single Alabama Song. She says: “Alabama Song is the second single from my album Inside Story. Playing slide on my Regal resonator guitar in an open tuning was the inspiration for the music and perfect for the feeling of the song’s nostalgic theme. This song was inspired by thoughts of living in Alabama as a teenager and returning for years to visit family and friends. It’s about coming of age and recalling memories of my parents’ house on the lake in a remote part of Alabama. It reflects the beauty and spirituality found in nature, as well as gratitude for the gifts of life that sometimes can only be realized when looking back at a time that is past and gone.”
45 | Lustmord & Karin Park | Twin Flames
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lustmord and Karin Park have collaborated on an album called Alter, which is due out June 25. The first single Twin Flames just went live this morning. Lustmord (Brian Williams) is a living legend who has an impressive discography of 25 studios albums, played on Tool’s latest album, had Adam Jones play on one of his records next to Buzz Osborne and Aaron Turner), collaborated with Jarboe, Coil, Stephen O’Malley and Paul Haslinger, and worked on movie soundtracks like The Crow and Underworld.”
