Who says you can’t headbang on a Tuesday afternoon? Not me. Hell, I spend most of my working life banging my head against the wall anyway. Might as well have some good tunes to go with it. Let’s hit it and quit it:
Cross Dog | Hard Feelings
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cross Dog are a noisy, experimental, bass-driven hardcore punk band from Peterborough. Their music is played at ear-splitting volumes, but the band’s socially conscious messaging cuts through the noise loud and clear. Formed in 2013, the intentional omission of a guitarist from the lineup leaves Cross Dog lacking absolutely nothing. Affirming the power in the rule of three, Tracy A (vocals), Mark Rand (bass), and Mikey Reid (drums) explode with a multiplicative force that betrays the finite bounds of their instrumental limitations. Cross Dog’s newest album (and first for Stomp Records), All Hard Feelings (out June 7), sees the band maintain the sonic onslaught they’ve become known for, but with a few tweaks. Hard Feelings, the first single, is a pseudo-diss track that stemmed from Tracy feeling blindsided and betrayed. It encapsulates the moment when you are all pure and reactive emotion before you calm down and view your current situation through a healthier, more balanced lens. It’s the perfect “scream-it-in-your-car” song, so you don’t end up screaming it in someone else’s face.”
Gnarwhal | Altered States
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Gnarwhal, the genre-bending rock phenomenon from Yellowknife, continue to captivate audiences with the release of their latest single, the title track from their upcoming album Altered States. The single is out now and the remainder of the fuzzy, doomy album is due May 24. The emotionally charged track offers a profound exploration of resilience and memory, weaving together intricate melodies and haunting lyrics that resonate with listeners on a deep and personal level. “Altered States is interesting because when we went into the studio we hadn’t even fleshed the song out and it wasn’t near complete,” the band say. “We were actually a bit tentative about including this in our studio time and having it on the EP. It was the last song we tracked.”
Saxon | Witches Of Salem
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Witches Of Salem is the forth single from Saxon’s 24th album Hell, Fire And Damnation — an LP that sees Saxon investigate all areas of history and mystery amidst 10 of their most confident and thunderously powerful songs yet. In Witches Of Salem, lead singer and founding member Biff Byford explores the unjust condemnation of the women victimized at the Salem witch trials and the sheer bigotry and mass hysteria prevalent at the time. “This is an American story, but the witch trials started in Scotland, spread into England and across the sea to the colonies in America,” explains Byford Those poor women in Salem, they weren’t witches more than just unfortunate women really, blamed for everybody’s ailments… whether your horse died, or the milk went sour, they blamed women. Maybe because they were jealous of them, or maybe it was because some guy had made some advances and she’d told him to piss-off, so he’d declare that she was a witch. And once a person was declared a witch, I don’t think there was any way back from that; very few of them were found innocent.”
Lord Buffalo | Holus Bolus
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Austin heavy psychedelic and Americana purveyors Lord Buffalo released the first single and video from their forthcoming album Holus Bolus, due July 12. Lord Buffalo are heavy in the way that ghosts are heavy… in the way that billowing dust is heavy. That is to say, the Austin psych-Americana band’s music impacts hard, though it seems impossible to touch. Their sound flows through us, it doesn’t invite the Pavlovian response of typical heavy rock music. Perhaps it’s fitting that their new album Holus Bolus takes its name from an antiquated term meaning “all at once.” It materializes instantly from the first opening notes, a grey haze drawing listeners in with deft juxtapositions of droning violin, guitars, drums and vocals.”
Opium Death | Ozymandias
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Opium Death are a brutal concoction of extreme metal, sent forth from the suburbs of Chicago to lay waste to metalheads around the world with their first album Genocidal Nemesis. “Lyrics and music go hand in hand,” they say. “So far we noticed that as we wrote a majority of the lyrics last, the tonality of the songs and how they flow from beginning to end definitely had us think of certain sentences or phrases to be sung in a relative and consistent manner with the chords and rhythm. Or the lyrics can give off such a feeling of tension or melancholy or whatever that the music now has to serve that purpose or it may feel disjointed if not thought out very well.”
Dune | Refuge
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dune, the relentless force in the world of thrash metal, deliver the first lyric video for the single Refuge, a relentless anthem from their debut EP Years Of Chains, being unleashed in May. Dune, formed in 2004 at the pinnacle of the Saudi metal scene, have returned stronger than ever after a hiatus and are ready to metal faces with their high-speed riffs and visceral vocals. Refuge has been in the works for quite a long time, the band reveal: “In 2007 Refuge was a song that was recorded multiple times during the years but we were never satisfied with the result as we faced issues with quality or it didn’t sound as we hoped, our vocalist screamed in the recording so hard that his balls started hurting the next day, still we didn’t like the result and scrapped that whole thing.”
Victoria K | Frozen
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melbourne gothic metal powerhouse Victoria K have recorded their own heavy rendition of Madonna’s iconic 1998 ballad Frozen. Victoria K bring their dark and tenebrous stylings to the classic with heavy riffs and the judicious incorporation of harsh vocals, while at the same time paying tribute to the soulful and introspective nature of the song with more dulcet moments led by frontwoman Victoria Knight’s hypnotic voice. Reflecting on the journey of recording the song, Knight reveals, “Frozen is one of my favourite Madonna tracks, I’m so excited to be breathing new life into the song.” She continues, “We’re hoping that with this cover, we can bring a new and fresh sound to Victoria K.” Fans can indeed look forward to a bigger Victoria K sound than ever, as Frozen is mixed and mastered by the deft hand of Lance Prenc, whose work includes some of Australia’s biggest heavy acts such as Alpha Wolf, Thornhill and Void of Vision.”
The Sonic Dawn | Nothing Can Live
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Danish acid and psychedelic rock stalwarts The Sonic Dawn present their new single Nothing Can Live Here, taken from their fifth album Phantom, due May 10. Guitarist and vocalist Emil Bureau says: “The song takes listeners on a journey through eerie contrasts. Tranquil verses blur the lines between heaven and hell before the first chorus opens a door that won’t close again. And then it kicks in… A psychedelic climax paints a vivid portrait of a world where only decay thrives. Similar to the sinking of the Titanic, the band just keeps on keeping on. Humankind has a future — if we want one. That theme ties many tracks on the album.”
