With the festival season more or less over for another, except for Torquay’s Burn It Down and Bristol’s Misery Loves Company festivals, August ends with another busy week of #NewMusicFriday releases.
The three releases I’ve featured this week come from Norway prog exports Leprous, rising US indie/alt-rock outfit Enumclaw, and the engaging return of Bent Knee. Read more about these below.
There is also a fair amount of heavy releases, most notably the return from Nails. Returning with their first album in eight years, ‘Every Bridge Burning’ is a frantic onslaught of grindcore and hardcore sharpened down to an ear-piercing point. Its relentlessness refuses to leave you gasping for breath. Likewise, Oceano pummels you into submission on ‘Living Chaos’ with their brand of deathcore. Finally, ‘Excessive Guilt’ from Swedish newcomers thrown packs an almighty punch with their bruising brand of hardcore.
Additionally, the trend of anniversary releases continues as Lamb of God, Oasis, and Frank Iero treat fans with bonus material. As for Chelsea Wolfe, she’s following up her sublime ‘She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She’ from this past February with an EP of remixed tracks. There is also a new album (‘Death Or Glory’) from Palaye Royale, a band I have never cared for.
As for other releases, there is new music from the likes of AWOLNATION, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Elder, IDESTROY, and many more.
Leprous – Melodies Of Atonement
Throughout their 20+ year career, Leprous have repeatedly shown their ambitious tendencies, carving out a solid reputation within the world of prog metal. The Norwegians’ eighth album, ‘Melodies Of Atonement‘ sees their next evolution embracing electronic elements. Simultaneously, they’ve removed recent orchestral flourishes, allowing the quintet to somewhat strip things back. Despite this, there is still a richness to what Leprous produce.
From the outset, ‘Silently Walking Alone’ opens with brooding synths before its towering chorus and angular riffs momentarily take over. ‘My Specter’ takes a soothing, ominous route building with a cinematic quality, partly due to Einar Solberg’s vocals. ‘Limbo’ struts along with a funky guitar and groove in the verses. While Solberg’s light keys counter the bright mood, providing a sense of trepidation.
Undoubtedly there is a magnetism to Solberg’s voice. Throughout, there are falsetto charges that are complemented by stomping blasts of dynamic prog metal. The semi-title track, ‘Atonement’, is one of these as it highlights Leprous‘ skirmishes with modern synth before Solberg’s pitch goes sky high in its finale. Later on, ‘Self-Satisfied Lullaby’ is another synth-reliant offering that comfortably leans into compelling harmonies.
There’s also the hidden album gem of ‘Faceless’. Stripped back by its timid double bass, piano keys, and steady tempo, it emphasises Leprous‘ dramatic flair. Soon enough Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Robin Ognedal lead a duel guitar charge with drummer Baard Kolstad adding brief density. As the album’s longest offering, it proves to be a rapturous, theatrical number, especially with the added choir during its finale.
Admittedly, at times it’s difficult to take the focus off Einar Solberg. However, ‘Melodies Of Atonement’ is carried by musical cohesion that isn’t afraid to throw in new ideas. Despite the absence of truly heavier moments, Leprous play off their euphoric strengths on ‘Melodies Of Atonement’.
Enumclaw – Home In Another Life
Washington quartet Enumclaw find themselves amongst good company. With Run For Cover Records now their home, they’re now label buddies with Citizen, Fiddlehead, One Step Closer, and several other names who are more associated with post-hardcore and emo. Considerably, Enumclaw doesn’t quite fit into that same pigeonhole. Their 2022 debut, ‘Save the Baby’, prospered on catchy indie rock. For their second album, ‘Home In Another Life’, the Tacoma group opt for a lyrically raw approach, led by vocalist and principal songwriter Aramis Johnson.
His songwriting on these 11 songs is frank with a diaristic tone and a wry smile. From grunge distortion of ‘I’m Scared I’ll End Up All Alone’, to the lyrical yearning of ‘This Light Of Mine’, Johnson’s words are clouded in self-doubt. Most prominently, ‘Not Just Yet’ focuses on his (and bassist Eli Edwards’) Uncle Mike’s diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s. ‘Spots’ ruminates with lust, before ‘I Still Feel Bad About Masturbation’ dwells on personal flaws.
As a unit, Enumclaw utilises a quiet-to-loud structure via fuzzy guitars drenched in feedback and a sturdy rhythm section. The late pairing of ‘Fall Came Too Soon And Now I Wanna Throw Up’ and ‘This Light Of Mine’ is subtly gritty, with the former having a hint of melancholy. While the grief-stricken ‘Haven’t Seen The Family In A While, I’m Sorry’ takes a harmonious shoegaze diversion. It’s followed by the infectious 90’s alt-rock of ‘Grocery Store’, highlighting Enumclaw‘s hook-writing abilities. The same can be said for ‘Change’. as washed-out guitars shift into a dense and driving chorus.
Although not the most instantaneous record, ‘Home In Another Life’ has a growing quality with vocal and guitar melodies that worm their way into your subconscious. This is partly helped by its brevity, allowing you to queue repeated plays with trepidation. If anything, it solidifies Enumclaw‘s position as “ones to watch” having delivered a coherent narrative and sound.
Bent Knee – Twenty Pills Without Water
Massachusetts art-rockers Bent Knee describe their seventh album, ‘Twenty Pills Without Water’, as an “album full of ghosts and coping mechanisms.” It also sees them coming to grips as a four-piece, following the departures of Ben Levin and Jessica Kion in 2022. Thankfully, the dynamic voice of Courtney Swain remains as she, along with Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth, Chris Baum, and Vince Welch, present a dizzying and colourful set of songs.
Straight away, ‘Forest’ ideally embeds itself with an earthly texture, as tribal drums are taken over by Swain’s soaring harmonies and brooding strings. Its final crescendo fringes on a descent to madness. ‘I Like It’ sees the influence of ‘In Rainbows’-era Radiohead appear in clear daylight; swirling strings, drum machines, and glitchy FX. Going forward, ‘Illiterate’ finds comfort in reliable TV shows amongst jittery instrumentation. ‘Big Bagel Manifesto’ is icy with Swain’s melodies cooly riding atop blossoming sounds, only for Wallace-Ailsworth’s drums to step to attempt to take the spotlight from her. While ‘Never Coming Home’ sees Bent Knee embrace their indie pop capabilities with a disco groove.
Undoubtedly, the album highlight comes in the form of ‘Drowning’. Glistening with richness and beauty, its sedative pacing is executed with a hypnotic quality with Courtney’s words of detachment melting over the luscious build.
It’s a credit to Bent Knee that despite losing members, they’ve maintained their varied and layered sound. As ‘Twenty Pills Without Water’ heads towards its climax. ‘DLWTSB’ combines John Carpenter-like synths with penetrating drums, creating a sound akin to Chvrches. Whereas ‘Lawnmower’ is gentle, revealing itself with each acoustic strum and twinkling keys.
This new-looking incarnation of Bent Knee has an enticing quality, employing the almighty vocal strength of Courtney Swain and combining it with an interesting mix of sounds and textures. Even with three of the tracks merely serving as transitional instrumentals, along with the throwaway twisted country song, ‘Cowboy’, ‘Twenty Pills Without Water’ is an intriguing collection.
What is out on #NewMusicFriday?
Leprous – Melodies Of Atonement
Lamb of God – Ashes Of The Wake (20th Anniversary Edition)
NAILS – Every Bridge Burning
Oceano – Living Chaos
Chelsea Wolfe – Undone
Enumclaw – Home In Another Life
Oasis – Definitely Maybe (30th Anniversary Edition)
Bent Knee – Twenty Pills Without Water
Frank Iero – Stomachaches – XNauseousX (Deluxe Anniversary Edition)
Palaye Royale – Death Or Glory
AWOLNATION – The Phantom Five
Idestroy – Idestroy
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God
thrown – Excessive Guilt
Elder – Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios
Entropy – Dharmakãya
Born A New – A Different You
To the Grave – Everyone’s a Murderer
Wintersun – Time II
Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts – Rogue To Redemption
Swervedriver – Doremi Faso Latido
WALL – Brick by Brick
Worn Out – Low EP
Earth & Elsewhere – In Life We Vanish
Cold Gawd – I’ll Drown On This Earth
ZacTheLocust – All I Am
Grave Risk – Mindkiller
Anciients – Beyond The Reach Of The Sun
Oceanator – Everything Is Love And Death
Norna – Norna
If you think I’ve missed something or have a new album/EP/song to tell us about, tell us about it here.
If you’re looking for the latest tracks focusing on rock, punk, hardcore, metal, emo, and everything in between, then check out our ‘Newish Music’ playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
