Amsterdam folk grunge, Brussels metalcore, a Perth blues-rock supergroup forged on a European tour, a Larnaca one-man philosophical metal project, and a Seattle Americana songwriter responding to the Supreme Court during Pride Month: rock this week covers a lot of ground.
Subterranean Street Society – Thomas Matthew Crooks
Subterranean Street Society’s “Thomas Matthew Crooks” is an excellent piece of swampy grunge: a slow-building groove and a whole lot of character and heart
“Thomas Matthew Crooks” grew from two events arriving on the same day: a depressed flatmate blaming vocalist Louis for his suicidal thoughts, and the news breaking of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. A pretty heady mix that one, and compellingly, the track makes no clean argument about either. Instead, it builds a pretty tasty, swampy groove that just doesn’t quit. Produced brilliantly and with bags of character, it’s a fantastic single, well worthy of your time this week.
Subterranean Street Society are a Danish-Dutch trio based in Amsterdam, blending folk storytelling with raw grunge energy in a space somewhere between Nirvana and Mumford and Sons. I love the former and dislike the latter, but these guys land somewhere great. Their songs move between fragile, confessional passages and explosive dynamics, and their catalogue is built on the principle that the most honest position is sometimes the most uncomfortable one. Come to London, guys. Would be great to see you live.
Karma Noir – This Is Her Time
Karma Noir’s “This Is Her Time” is a stunning metalcore track: recorded at Noise Factory Studio in Brussels with the visceral, unpolished mix that modern production almost never allows, and it sounds all the better for it.
“This Is Her Time” was recorded at Noise Factory Studio in Belgium, where the producer has previously worked with Channel Zero, and the production is a deliberate rejection of the clean, clinical finish that dominates contemporary metal. This really, really slaps and comes in hard and then goes even harder. There’s minimal guitar overlays keep the arrangement open, giving the emotional brutality of the subject space to land: a relationship that moves from love into manipulation and control. The vocals are great, with a combination of harsher vocals and clean singing that kind of commit to the paradox of the subject. It’s got some fantastic hooks too.
Karma Noir are a Brussels collective whose creative philosophy centres on fate, destiny and the invisible forces that shape human lives, a thematic framework the band draws from W.H. Auden: “We are lived by powers we pretend to understand.” Every member contributes their own influences to the writing process, which is what keeps the compositions shifting atmospherically rather than settling into a single register. It’s a brilliant single and I can’t wait for more.
Michael Vdelli And The Art Of Dysfunction – You And The Blues
Michael Vdelli And The Art Of Dysfunction’s “You And The Blues” is a brilliant blues-rock statement: spacious, brooding, and built around guitar playing that prioritises tone and heart over flash.
“You And The Blues” sits in the cinematic, restrained end of modern blues-rock: the arrangement breathes, the guitar bends and lingers rather than showing off, and the whole thing moves with the deliberate weight of musicians who know restraint is harder to pull off than speed. Honestly, it’s the space in this tune which makes it soar, and I just love how sparse it sounds, at all the right moments. There’s a clear chemistry between these guys, and we love how things grew from an opening slot, a tour together into shared stage time. It’s well earned, and the results are brilliant.
Michael Vdelli And The Art Of Dysfunction brings together veteran guitarist and vocalist Michael Vdelli with Perth-based band Art Of Dysfunction: Michael Menna on guitar and vocals, Kelly McCarthy on bass and Royce Mack on drums. Vdelli brings decades of experience and a command of blues tone; Menna contributes melodic range and technical precision; McCarthy a formally trained groove; Mack maximum power and feel. It’s the blues combo we’ve been waiting for, and we’ll be keeping a very close eye on what they do next. A brilliant single.
Watch Me Die Inside – Die Gestalt der Fügung verharrt unverrückt
Watch Me Die Inside’s “Die Gestalt der Fügung verharrt unverrückt” is a cold and ambitiously urgent banger; exactly the kind of post-metal we love
Watch Me Die Inside are here with a stunner of a single here. The title translates roughly as “the shape of providence remains unmoved,” and it builds that philosophical position into its architecture: cold atmospheres, a whole bunch of intensity, and a persistent sense that the listener is being watched rather than watching. It’s big, bold and brash, and also wonderfully ambitious in scope. Vocally it’s great, and it genuinely keeps you hooked. Conceptually it’s interesting too; each release is considered a ‘fragment’, and together they add up to an “autopsy of the modern human condition”. This one’s all about the idea that every decision and every act of rebellion already belongs to a design far older than the self. I agree with that, but the real treat is the single. It’s great.
Watch Me Die Inside is the artistic universe of Aleph, based in Larnaca, Cyprus. The project documents the modern human in a state of internal collapse, working through states suspended between identity loss, emptiness and resistance. Listeners are positioned as Witnesses rather than passive consumers, asked to observe a condition that is not softened, only made visible. We can’t wait to hear the next in this series, cos this one’s a banger.