Pressed Flowers
May 2nd, 2024
Hey y’all. Just sitting here and trying to think of updates to include in this issue… been getting back into Diablo IV, still cursing the back and forth weather that seems to hinder our ability to go for hikes, had our first silverfish sighting (shudder), been considering kicking our car out of the garage permanently so I can exclusively use it to drink beer and listen to thrash metal inside (just kidding, or maybe…?) and did you know unpacking and setting up an entire house takes like, months and months and months it seems? Slowly but surely, I suppose.
Anyway, I’m trying out a thing this week where I highlight the “picks” of the issue with a little pick emoji (⛏️). Those are records I’m totally in love with right now, and providing that you are interested in the genres they reside in, should definitely seek out. Let me know if you think this is fun or neat or stupid, haha.
As always, please reach out on the hellsite if you’d like or better yet join the Rosy Overdrive Discord server where I can be found now and again. You can also find me in the corners of Rate Your Music scrounging for obscure emo, hardcore, indie-rock and pop-punk.
Don’t forget: if you’re reading this in your email it will be cut off. Read on the web for the full list of reviews!
⛏️ Ahem - Avoider (2024)
Genre: Indie Rock, Pop Punk
A lot of bands take their second album as an opportunity to expand their sound, add a bunch of additional instrumentation or splinter off into a bunch of directions they maybe couldn't have reached on their earlier releases. Ahem—who had a cracking album of indie/emo/power-pop with Try Again—instead just double-down on what they do best on their second LP; mixing crunchy power pop, bit of syrupy emo dual-vocal melodies alongside some higher energy songs.
If there's any overall change from their last album vs this one, it's probably the pronounced addition of a bit of jangle to their sound. It's another very strong release from the band, and one that points to their increasing consistency. I could see them turning into one of those bands that releases a record every two or three years, always solid and always reliable in the best kind of way. I hope they keep it up because this was a pretty quick addition to my year-end list for sure.
Mister Goblin - Frog Poems (2024)
Genre: Indie Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Indie Folk, Emo
I appreciate that this expands on Mister Goblin's sound a bit with some further reaches into more atmospheric indie rock. Ultimately I like them most in chunky rock-riff mode and there's a bit less of that here than usual it feels like, but not so much that I’m walking away disappointed. I’m thinking this is a good case for something that will grow on me over time because when it does kick in it hits pretty good and I can see this coalescing together well and ending up on my year end list. I can say that the more I spin this the more comfortable it feels and sounds to me, so I’m already softening up on it since I first sat down with it.
Mandy - Lawn Girl (2024)
Genre: Indie Rock, Pop Punk
Great indie rock that borders on power pop and emo throughout. Kind of a good grab bag of sounds and textures without being disparate or unorganized. Only 23 minutes and I can see myself coming back to this for sure.
Joyer - Night Songs (2024)
Genre: Slowcore, Indie Rock
Cromulent but not extraordinary slowcore and shoegaze influenced indie rock, with some tracks showing a prominent Duster sound ("Drive All Night"). Honestly, pretty unmemorable unfortunately. Could be a my problem, not a your problem, though.
Grumpster - Grumpster (2024)
Genre: Pop Punk, Emo-Pop, Power Pop
Grumpster seem a bit between sounds on this one - sometimes they still resemble the fizzy pop punk and power pop of their previous album ("SSBpt2")... and other times they sound more like Heart Attack Man on "Just For Fun" or "Sun." They're definitely leaning into the moody emo-grunge thing on this one (note the autumnal album art.) They do a bit of "we have Drug Church at home" on "Bottom Feeder" as well. Then they sound like they are summoning Dinosaur Jr.'s "Feel the Pain" with the opening riff on "Grey".
They continue to be a band that seems like they should be right up my alley but the songs just aren't quite up to the caliber I want them to be. I feel like the more energetic songs here should be what dewtaylo calls "cheat code catchy" but they just aren't. It's not bad though, some of the big crunchy guitar riffs and decent melodies get the job done for now but I feel like I’m still waiting for them to make their album.
Devastation - Idolatry (1991)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Death Metal
Recommended to me by reader Jamie Ward. Thank you!
Every time I review something that has pronounced death metal elements or influences I always feel the need to front-load that "hey, I'm not a huge death metal guy or expert so take it with a grain of salt!" and this is no different.
Devastation play what sounds to me like a near-equal mix of death and thrash metal; they've got the blast beats and the tremolo riffing, they've got more of a thrash-influenced singer, but they also jump in and out of death metal with bursts of not only punk-y thrash but also some heavier, hardcore (but not really) chugging riffery. It's not so all over the place that I'd say it deserves a technical thrash tag, but it also doesn't NOT warrant maybe a tech thrash sub genre tag, you know?
All I know, is that this shit rips hard. It took me a couple songs to ease into their sound, which can be repetitive, but that doesn't really matter to me if it gets my head nodding and a lot of this did just that. Over on Rate Your Music, username bnoring mentioned there's some Dark Angel vibes going on here and in their sheer density of riffs I can definitely hear it. Awesome shit, for sure.
⛏️ Holy Moses - Finished With the Dogs (1987)
Genre: Thrash Metal
Capital "F" ferocious vocals from Sabina Classen on this thrash metal record with a lot of hardcore attitude. The drum performance here is fucking wild. The riffing at first glance might feel a little standard, they're wickedly tight though and there's enough change ups and lead licks tossed in at lightning speed to make things sound impressive across the board. It's not "technically" technical thrash but at this speed and with enough variety you almost have to admit it's pretty damn technical, haha.
The band would go on to dial down the in-your-face ferociousness and punk/hardcore influences on this in favor of a more straightforward technical thrash sound with less intense BPMs on their follow-up to this record, and nothing else they’ve done has quite hit me like this one (though their other albums that I have heard are pretty good.)
Under 1K ratings for this on Rate Your Music seems criminal to me, it fucking rips! I woke up the next day after hearing this for the first time thinking “I need to listen to this again, right now.” so that should tell you something.
Yamasaki Suz - Révolution technologique (2020)
Genre: Chiptune, Minimal Synth
Super wide-open compared to what you might expect from the chiptune genre; 6-minute opener “Auto-Explicativo” starts with skittering hi-hats and bass-hits with plucky synths bouncing from left to right and back again, ultimately ending in an extended minimal, distant stretch instead of a crescendo into chaos.
In some ways, it reminds me more of progressive-trance/house in structure, which is part of the reason why I kept coming back to this fascinating release throughout 2020.
Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in the Between (2007)
Genre: Ska Punk, Third Wave Ska
When Everything Goes Numb came out, I was in college and having an incredible ska-punk record like that drop in the thick of my expanding musical tastes was a great little reminder of how good the music I loved as a teen (mere years earlier but what felt like ages) could be.
Somewhere in the Between dropped when I was a year out of college, now living in a big city with my (bad) partner at the time and I was self-medicating with heaps and heaps of weed. I think I mention all of this personal detail because to me the difference between their two biggest records is how they landed emotionally.
Everything Goes Numb is likely my favourite of the two, but lyrically I find it at a distance. Here though, songs like "One Foot on the Gas, One Foot in the Grave" or the title track were ones to sit with (stoned lol) and ponder on. Not that it's high art here, but as a stoned fuck up that felt completely stuck between things it was an album that hit, that's for sure.
Much like Everything Goes Numb, it's probably a bit long and the pacing is a little wonky. There's times I listen to it and it sounds like the album is wrapping up but then there's a few more songs left. I felt that about Somewhere in the Between, sometimes even songs where you think it's over but they go on for another few minutes. Hard to really compare both of these albums because they're pretty integral to me (as well as being very similar, stylistically) so they both get the same rating.
Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican (1990)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Groove Metal
Continues the trend of me really liking stuff that gets comparisons to Dark Angel (as mentioned by HamburgerBoy in the Rate Your Music comments box.]
Basically they dump a barrel of riffs on your head, make sure to have a good amount of tempo changes and dip into some pretty brutal territory here and there (like the end of the song they named the band after.)
There's one song in particular that is really heinous and edge lordy though, lyrically, and you can probably take a guess which one after a glance at the track list. Honestly, that song flies by when you’re not listening closely, so I couldn’t argue with someone who doesn’t care but it really puts a sour note on the record once you know what’s going on there, lyrically.
Other than that, this shreds pretty hard and I’m always trying to find more Dark Angel-esque stuff so it gets a recommendation (with a warning) from me.
Nasty Savage - Penetration Point (1989)
Genre: Thrash Metal
One of those 'not what I expected' albums, considering their name and logo made me think this would be fantasy power metal kinda stuff, not technical thrash metal. Interesting level of technicality, they don't go so far into the kind of territory some tech thrash does where it's entirely about the complexity and not the songs themselves. This hits that balance well as they are pretty nervy and jump around a lot but maintain a base level of "this is a song I am listening to" level song structure.
There is something about them that I admire from a distance though. I want to like them more than I do. Can't put my finger on it - maybe it's production, maybe it's the singer, maybe the songwriting, not sure. It's well performed so it can't be that. Another one to file under "try again some day" though.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.