Reviews for March
Young Widows, Alpha Hopper, Drugs Of Faith, Machine Country, and more!
It’s spring and time for rebirth and renewal and with that a few bands that were thought to have maybe called it a day, or had an extended hibernation, have re-emerged with exceptional new records that have me all giddy and excited. And, of course, with Spring blooming it’s essential to highlight all that newness in the form of younger bands offering what they got. I’ve already mentioned it previously, but this year is already awesome for invigorating records. Hopefully you agree as well.
ALPHA HOPPER, “Let Heaven and Earth Sing II”
Members move to different places, members engage in all sorts of other projects, and it seemed very likely that Buffalo’s Alpha Hopper may have called it a day. But lo and behold! They have surprised us all with a new album and it’s just as every bit vital as their previous outings. I feel like older material may have sounded a bit more ‘fun’ for lack of a better word. And maybe it was because the low-end was non-existent making for music in a brighter sort of register overall. But here they are with a bass player now added to the group and introducing a bit of low-end. Yet the elements you know the band for remain: the erratic post-punk and jittery weirdo rock mixed with hardcore, along with Irene’s Arab-On-Radar-as-playful and delightful, and some AmRep influence taping it all together. I forever give props to Alpha Hopper for being that strange and elusive animal- the one that hides catchy and wonderful appeal underneath an exterior of harsh weirdness. In their own words, ‘delightfully dissonant.’ If this is renewal I’m all for it and hope to see them again live sometime. If it happens to be a swan song then they have closed the book in a great way.
YOUNG WIDOWS, “Power Sucker”
It’s been way too long since Young Widows got together to make an album, but things like distance and family will put the brakes on musical and touring endeavors, especially as people get older. In the meantime, guitarist/vocalist Evan Patterson has been all over the map musically with the Jaye Jayle project and some of that experimentation rubs off on “Power Sucker”, the first YW record since 2014, particularly in the vocal confidence and use of actual choruses here and there. While I felt a lot of previous Young Widows material was deadly serious, “Power Sucker” feels more ‘fun’. I know, that’s a strange description for such a heavy and weird band. But it’s more in the way that you can tell these guys are having fun playing together again as a band and it comes out in the music. There’s nary a pop ditty to be found, just the kind of bombastic Young Widows you know, brimming with excitement, particularly right as the urgent and fast tempo kicks off opener, “Darkest Side” and turning up again on the rather punk-infused “Take Get Lost” and “Falling Bullet”. Songs like “Turned Out Alright”, the title track, and “Exit Slowly” have more of the bass-heavy, brooding and effects-laden thump most of us YW fans are accustomed to. But it’s songs like “Every Bone” with it’s odd vocals, “Total Fucking Clarity” as a slower version of a potential Deadguy song, and closer “Hotel Of Crows” which heavily echoes Jaye Jayle material where the band fuck around and find out. It’s the kind of return you hope for from a group- sticking to their signature sound yet showing growth and trying a few new things too. At 13 tracks it’s clear they had been working on this for awhile and got it all out of their system.
DRUGS OF FAITH, “Asymmetrical”
Long-running punk-grind unit Drugs Of Faith have been sporadic at best, often going years between releases. But it’s generally a welcome surprise when they grace us with another release. This new full length slows things down a bit more than previous releases. While they’ve always meshed their blast beats with more rocking riffs this one puts the mid-tempo-to-kinda-fast ethos in the front seat while the grind blasts are restrained a bit overall. Yeah, they show up enough so not to worry, you’ll get your fill if you’re a fan. Lyrically you can probably take a stab in the dark and hit the target in terms of subject matter- a grinding corporate heel crushing the soul of humanity as society collapses and we all fight like dogs over scraps against a cruel plutocracy. So, basically, every day life in 2025. Hopelessness got riffs though.
GREAT FALLS/ ANTHESIS/ CELL PRESS/ WORRY split 12”
There’s four bands on this one-sided LP and some of them have shared space before. Cell Press did a similar multiple-split outing with Anthesis, and folks from Cell Press have done split material with Great Falls. But who is Worry? Why should it matter? All of these bands share sonic commonalities and fit so well together on this comp that a casual listener may have trouble telling them apart. But I know most of these bands are Canadian. Anyway, you all know Great Falls and their manic, very complex style of metallic hardcore/noise metal. This is their first new material since their last LP and it’s a dirgey number with a ethereal sort of drawn-out end part. Cell Press pines an adjacent kind of crushing, grooving heaviness though the emphasis is definitely more on the riff and the rhythm. Both Anthesis and Worry contribute longer songs. The Anthesis track accentuates technicality, lots of parts without just adding parts for the sake of it, they make them all count. Worry have more of that ‘what if a sludge band were contracted to write theme music for an invading army’ energy with some more introspective bits thrown in. The whole thing is capped off with a brief noise track combining bits and pieces of every bands track into a blender. Every one of these bands owes a debt of gratitude to Lethargy.
AMUSEMENT, “Holding On” EP
On their third 7” in, well, not that long, Amusement offers three more tracks that will probably get them confused with being a pop-punk band and that’s just downright blasphemy. OK, so maybe the first track has some hints of that but I hear more Replacements “Bastards Of Young” on that title track. From there I’m reminded more of scrappy hook-filled gems you’d hear from the likes of Superchunk, or old Garden Variety played in a basement with questionable electrical grounding. While it might seem more practical for this band to just wait a few months and dish out a full length rather than a series of EPs I kind of enjoy them in bits and pieces and these brief windows into their sound do the job of making me want to hear more. However, if you want a full length they are apparently also releasing this as a full 12” with their first two EPs tacked on as well as a Dinosaur Jr cover but just in Europe. The only failing of this EP is that the band is named Amusement, there’s a song on here called “Amusement”, and they didn’t think to name the EP “Amusement”?! C’mon, wasted opportunity. I yearn to witness a live set where they say ‘we’re Amusement and this is the song “Amusement” from our record “Amusement”’.
MACHINE COUNTRY, “Industrial Offering”
It’s admirable when a new/young band just keys in on their momentum and puts it all out there without much planning. Such is the case for Portland’s Machine Country. They’ve been playing out for maybe a year and change? In that space they’ve already released a demo, gone on tour, played all over town, and now releasing their debut full length. No social media hype-up, no big plan, just take all that energy, put it to tape and throw it out there. There’s no physical release of the album, it’s just on streaming. While that may leave some potential fans and listeners in the dark it seems the band is more focused on simply writing and playing out. But this collection has plenty to lay out there- crusty, grooving heaviness, blasting powerviolence bits, several interludes that vary from solemn brooding to noise and sample-laden freak-outs, re-recordings of the tracks from their demo, and crushing hardcore. It’s 15 tracks, but it feels like it goes by quick because there’s a lot of interesting variety to what they do. To old heads it’s like a mash-up of early Ire, Disembodied, and Dystopia crashing a party at the Ebullition Records warehouse. However, to make it relatable to anyone reading this you get plenty of filthy riffs with bass tuned so low earthquake preppers are grabbing their go-bags; vocals split between the guitarist and bassist with alternating screams, talking/sung parts, and lots of shrieking; eerie and uncomfortable guitar melodies; and a good mix of slower/groovier parts with the fast tempo-to-powerviolence parts. The whole thing just sounds dirty and that’s intentional. Not a bad start for this band, managing to offer this kind of variety and still sounding consistent throughout.
SUNDOWNER, “Work Dream”
It didn’t take too long, but Toronto’s Sundowner have returned off their debut EP with their first proper full length and it’s a big step forward in terms of growth and fine-tuning their whole approach. “Work Dream” is a pretty hot-shit release if you ask me since my opinion occasionally counts for something. Their debut made it known what they love and crib from, though it was still a bit formative. On “Work Dream” it feels like they are truly wearing their influence on their sleeve, that is to say, they have bootlegged Drive Like Jehu hoodies (it’s Canada after all and it’s cold) in a metal font running down the arm. Whether it’s a sludgy, bottom-heavy drag on “Randy”, or the propulsive post-hardcore gallop of Pedestrian” Sundowner stoke their creative side with variety and a solid collection of tracks to appease those who want their indie rock noisy and dense, or heavy music fans who want more than just blunt force trauma. This is a good balancing act of those two.
STRESS PALACE/ ALL CLEAN. split 7”
These bands are two kindred spirits in that I’m actually having a tough time telling them apart. Even though each band only contributes a single track they offer up exceptional contributions. I’ve been digging Stress Palace for some time now and this song- “See You In Hell”- has their wall of sound of big, open guitars and soundscapes pushing a slower tempo and howling vocals. It’s a post-hardcore/industrial/death rock sort of amalgamation and I dig it. All Clean offer up a slightly more ‘rocking’ version of what Stress Palace lays down. It’s still heavily brooding, with talked/howled vocals but more emphasis on the guitars and some sort of sung parts while using some synth/soundscape parts more as a background. Their track, “This Is a Deathwatch”, is a bit more upbeat yet still haunting and heavy.