Autumn is upon us. Summer is a corpse. The dead-eyed children are back in school, which means it’s time for a recap of this week’s best hardcore, metal, and punk rock. We dug through the record crates to find the new tunes we think you need to spin and rage to. Looking for some new death metal to set the mood this Fall? Got you covered. Need some grindcore to get your Autumn off on the right foot? Say no more. Strap in kiddies; it’s time to rock.
To get things going, we have a premiere from Tulsa punks The Bourgeois. Below, you can check out the video for the rockin’ song, “Be Careful With That Sound, It’s Antique.” The song hits hard and is filled with bitter angst, which is perfectly mirrored in the story of the video. When you think of punk rock, when you think of hardcore, you undoubtably think of fashion commentary, right? Sure, some bands tackle the government, others battle with authority forces like religion or the police. The Bourgeois take things a step further and turn their attacks to the horror known as cargo shorts. Dark stuff.
The band told us, “‘Be Careful With That Sound, It’s an Antique’ is about our band trying to cut through the noise in a world full of constant stimulation. We wanted the video to be a metaphor for that futility, and we figured that getting people to accept the awfulness of cargo shorts was commensurate with our struggle.” That’s deep. This video is just one more reason to love this band, so check it out and The Bourgeois as your new hard rock overlords. You’ll dig their sound, we promise.
Mustard Gas & Roses’ new album is one hell of a bleak soundtrack. Becoming is masterfully epic and haunting, the sort of album you don’t just sit and listen to. You experience it. Songs like “Let it Roll,”  which you can take a test spin on below, conjure all kinds of images and feelings. These instrumental tracks tell a story and it’s a heavy, dark tale. There’s elements of Explosions in the Sky here, but heavier and more rock driven. Mustard Gas & Roses create their atmosphere through riffs, punishing drums, and a slow building momentum. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a dark Fall evening or a crisp Winter morning. If you need a score, something to help propel you through your day, Mustard Gas & Roses’ Becoming is the way to go. It can turn the simply mundane into the supremely epic.
Super Unison’s Auto is easily one of this year’s coolest releases. It’s a slick and angry punk rock album that hits hard from start to finish. The band has just released a video for the song “You Don’t Tell Me.” It’s a cool little number that melds and shifts into different images of the band. Singer and bass player Meghan O’Neil is a freaking rockstar, filled with a casual grace and explosive ferocity. Fans of her past project Punch know that she hits harder than just about anybody out there, and there are certainly traces of that in Super Unison. That said, Auto is more focused than anything Punch ever released. It has a confident swagger to it. It’s hard-hitting punk, sure, but there’s a straightforward rock n’ roll bite to it that makes Super Unison a band in a class all their own. This band is just flat out awesome.
The return of Planes Mistaken for Stars is something we are still wrapping our heads around. The fact that we’re going to get a new album from these dudes is so exciting and unexpected. We loved the first track we heard off of Prey: a mean and jagged song called “Fucking Tenderness.” Now, we’ve got another track to gush over, and this one’s everything we love about the band. Unflinching and raw, “Riot Season” is catchy and intense. Like the best Planes Mistaken for Stars tracks, it’s fuzzy and cutting, like drinking a Coke filled with shards of glass. Prey is a still over a month away, but we are in full countdown mode. Every hour that passes gets us closer to holding this bad boy in our hands. We need more Planes Mistaken for Stars in our lives.
With the album title Requiem for Hell, Mono paint a pretty clear picture of what you’re going to experience when you hear them. It’s a slow moving dreamscape of sounds. Mono rolls over you, enveloping every part of your soul. It’s pretty at times and starkly dark at others. There’s something sad is this music, something painful and sharp. If you liked that Mustard Gas & Roses song from earlier, you’ll undoubtedly love this. Cinematic and sweeping, Requiem for Hell is unescapable. It’s an album we’ll be talking about for years. Once it’s in you, it lingers and grows. Give in and listen to Mono.
This is not a drill, people! Converge’s masterpiece Jane Doe is being repressed! That’s right, you can order it here. This is your chance to own one of the most important albums of the past few decades. If you don’t have it on vinyl, click that link and order it, now. No excuses, just do it. If you have somehow been reading this weekly column and you have never heard of Jane Doe, take a moment and experience it below. Originally released in September 2001, Jane Doe unknowingly captured the darkness and fear that eclipsed the United States. It changed the way people thought about hardcore. It allowed many of us to embrace the angst and fury inside our hearts. It’s easily one of the most important records ever produced in America and nobody saw it coming. The cover imagine alone is iconic. The opening riff is one of the most recognizable intros to an album ever. It’s amazing, in every sense of the word, and you should own it. We all should own it.
Lastly, we’ve got some death metal to propel your weekend into greatness. Ulcerate are monstrous and their music captures that. Just listen to “Abrogation” and get crushed. This is that brand of technical death metal that just grinds and pummels, it’s an endless see of riffs, growls, and breakdowns. Ugly as ugly can be, Ulcerate takes no prisoners. As you prepare to practice the dark arts this Halloween, turn on some Ulcerate and light a candle. There’s like a 50/50 chance you’ll summon a demon without even trying.
Hey, that’s it for us this week. What are you spinning lately? Got a heavy playlist you need the world to hear? Sound off in the comments below.
Image:Â Mustard Gas & Roses
Gif:Â Cartoon Network
Benjamin Bailey writes for the Nerdist and can be found on Twitter talking about Godzilla, comic books, and hardcore music.
