Another track reviews episode has arrived right at your doorstep! Embrace the voices of Ryan, Derek, and I spewing words from our mouths. This time we delve into a nice variety of post-metal, hardcore, and punk. There’s even an absolutely fantastic bonus track at the end—one that Ryan will always disturbingly cherish!

The Polish project MuN enchants us with progressive crystalline sand dunes. Monolithic post-metal buttes jut out from the desert with flaky layers of doom metal. A voice worthy of an ancient wizard calls out from a windswept tower. A dark white-capped sea meets the desert as the music twist and turns into a transforming adventure. You can’t help but conjure thoughts of fantastical greatness. The full album Presomnia is available now!

Next, we ride the icebergs of the northern Atlantic and Arctic ocean! The epic Icelandic metal greats known as Sólstafir give us “Drýsill”. Translating to “demon”, the track goes right into the concept of fighting the inner evils that hold you back. Despite knowing maybe two words in Icelandic we found the vocals to be rather beautiful. The progressive rocking instrumentals truly take on a saga of their own. Like the green-hued wavering ribbons of the aurora borealis the music whips about like an enchanting dance. We look forward to the release of Endless Twilight of Codependent Love coming in November.

Prepare your ears for a full-on assault. Boundaries knocks us on our asses as their new track “Carve” annihilates our senses. Rolling in like a flash-bang grenade, the Connecticut hardcore outfit delivers the always welcomed pissed off heaviness. Pounding guitar riffs constantly mutate and barrage you from every angle. The barking vocals glisten with dark crimson blood as lyrics of personal (yet relatable) traumas let loose. I’m for sure ready to dissolve my boundaries and let their upcoming album Your Receding Warmth leave me in a happy little meat heap.

The black metal infused post-hardcore outfit Glassing surprises us with a mind-expanding track named “Twin Dreams”. The Austin, Texas band skillfully combines the harsh bleakness of black metal with dreamy shoegaze tinged post-hardcore. The three of us marveled at the calming effects the music brought us. The raw yet meditative movements of instrumentals left us in thought-provoking awe. Ryan and Derek definitely describe these feelings much more efficiently as I just simply take it in like a pink sunset ending a stressful day. I personally haven’t heard this sound done so well and, once again, I’m looking forward to the full release from which this track comes.

We then hobble over to Britain’s very own Anaal Nathrakh, and their new track “The Age of Starlight Ends”. They effortlessly capture a hellish, apocalyptic soundscape of melodies over pummeling black metal drum beats. Derek and I are pretty unfamiliar with their discography and found the In Flames-like dramatic singing vocals a bit… uh, different. Yet my history with Scandinavian sounding melodic death metal gives me an appreciation for the track overall. It’s a sweltering fun track that tackles the current global political landscape in regards to Covid-19 and the likes. Plus… a thousand cocks begin to crow!

Lastly (besides that burning sting of a bonus track) we get to the Catsick/Conflicted Split. Having covered the sloppy good time Catsick brings, we decided to jump into their music once more. This time around, the New Zealand crazies teamed up with the Russian punk band Conflicted. We seriously want to know how the two bands even got in contact with each other. Catsick delivers the chaotic randomness in the punk genre while the female-fronted Conflicted brings the raw in sync bad-assery. My favorite part of Catsick is the random spur of the moment noises and insane lyrics they barf out (yeeee boy). Conflicted gives us vocals all in Russian but the minute-long incinerating tracks they give us are fucking tasty.