With festival season all but a distant haze, September saw a bigger focus on live shows and album releases. The month has seen the return of some heavy-hitters including stateside behemoths Norma Jean, new wave hardcore expects Touche Amore, and stateside rockers Balance and Composure. There have also been a few surprises along the way. Check out the songs that have been keeping Punktastic HQ noisy this month.
Fall Out Boy – ‘Love Sex Death’
The long awaited release of the Pax.Am sessions is merely weeks away and it’s currently being teased in the form of ‘Love, Sex, Death.’ The track is 90 odd seconds of snotty punk. Such is the state of today’s Fall Out Boy, there’s something oddly tongue in cheek about what is essentially four punk kids playing punk music. [Chris Marshman]
Devon Kay & The Solutions – ‘Fornication’
Getting in the mood for Fest and one of the bands I’m super excited to see are Devon Kay and the Solutions. I can pretty much sum up DKATS as ridiculous pop-punk-rock, really chuggy and lots of fun. The whole album is full of delights but I’ve picked this one in particular because of the sneaky riff stolen from Pokemon in the middle (Pokemon + Punk Rock = Nothing better). The perfect accompaniment to some well-deserved desk mosh time. [Maryam Hassan]
Sundowner – ‘Cemetery West’
Brilliant song taken from the new solo album of Chris McCaughan, from The Lawrence Arms. Sincere, honest and fresh. Hopefully we’ll get to see this played on our shores soon, as Chris hasn’t done a solo tour in the UK for a while now. [Mark Gadong]
Norma Jean – ‘If You Ain’t Got It At Five, You Ain’t Got It At Fifty’
2013 has been a resurgent year for metalcore, with fantastic comebacks from the likes of Shai Hulud and Misery Signals, and that strong run of form shows no sign of halting with Norma Jean. ‘Wrongdoers’ is an incredible record; the best we’ve seen from the quintet in years, and arguably a post-Scogin career high. Watch them have some milky fun (weyoo?) in the video for ‘If You Got It At Five, You Got It At Fifty’. [Ollie Connors]
Mansions – ‘Climbers’
Part of the stateside experimental indie scene that has spawned the likes of The Front Bottoms, Misser and Modern Baseball, the underrated Mansions returned in September with the grungier-than-expected ‘Climbers’. Combining distorted vocals, fuzzy guitars and the occasional synth-esque song, the track is more grandiose but just as gritty as their previous material. It’s a good indication of things to come on ‘Doom Loop’. [Ben Tipple]
Stream the track here.
Pixies – ‘Indie Cindy’
Any new Pixies is good Pixies – especially when it pops up when no one expects. Triumphant return, but this time without Kim Deal. For some people that would be a big thing, but I’m just happy that they’re still around and making music. [Mark Gadong]
Touche Amore – ‘Harbor’
One of the finest slabs from the band’s new album ‘Is Survived By’, ‘Harbor’ sees Touché Amoré deliver their trademark emotionally charged alternative hardcore mixed with some of their most emphatic melodic instrumental work. It’s an essential record for any alternative rock fans in 2013, and the track is a great place to start with the band in general. [Tom Aylott]
Black Shapes – ‘Sin of Sinners’
Back in 2006, Kent hardcore band November Coming Fire released an album called ‘Dungeness’, a quite exceptional record that went drastically underappreciated at the time of release. Their vocalist Gareth Evans here returns with new outfit Black Shapes, who have changed tack from earlier releases and moved from Trash Talk-esque explosive thrash to something far bigger. If you’re a fan of the likes of Converge, Bastions, Doomriders and Baroness, this record is an absolute must-hear – check out the video for “Sin of Sinners” to see just why. [Ollie Connors]
Balance and Composure – ‘Reflections’
When ‘The Things We Think We’re Missing’ arrived at the beginning of the month, it left a lot of dropped jaws being collected from the floor. The second album from Balance and Composure is full of anthemic arena-sized rock and dozens of soaring riffs from start to finish. This track, ‘Reflections’, is a sample of the huge sound that the band have come to develop – along with a fitting crisply cinematic video to boot. [James Fox]
TRC – ‘We Bring War’
TRC’s new album ‘Nation’ came out this month, and whatever you think of them, they really do have a hefty amount of bangers. ‘We Bring War’ is just one example of those bangers. If you manage not to headbang to this one, your inner mosher is far too weak. Give in to TRC, because they are bloody brilliant. WE BRING WAR! [Lais MW]
More Than Life – ‘Do You Remember….’
Poor grammar aside, this is the first glimpse of new material from More Than Life in 3 years and it’s quite a departure. The band have clearly stopped recording uber-low budget and the song is an interesting, easy going affair – with simultaneous sung vocals and underlying screams over some atmospheric guitar. I’m not sure how the album is going to be, whether this will be the exception to prove the rule and it’ll be more like old MTL, but very interesting indeed. [Mike Scott]