We now have our selection of the top LPs and EPs to release in July, following on from our favourite singles of the month. Including the debut EP from Melbourne outfit Identity Error, Lauren Bousfield solidifying themselves in the hyperpop scene and GOD AWFUL releasing their much anticipated debut record.
Pillow Fort – And Words That Stay The Same
This is the second EP from UK tappy-emo band Pillow Fort. The band chose to record quality over quantity here, with twelve minutes of full-fidelity sad-rock music, paying careful attention to the EP’s structure to make for an experience that is truly memorable. The opener of And Words That Stay The Same “Them’s Fighting Words” is full of classic riffs, making it urgently catchy whilst being glazed in pessimism, which is a mood that only deepens as the EP goes on. In true emo style, irreverent lyrics become frighteningly relevant, too. Ryan Crick ponders self worth across the EP with lines like “I do some things well / like growing my hair / and not looking after myself”. The sombre “Reptar’s Revenge” slows things down, and “Wake” has a non-traditional structure with moments of happiness and a smooth transition into the final track. Fair warning, “Soliloquy” ends the EP in a really dark place.
Agriculture – Agriculture
Agriculture self-style as “ecstatic black metal”, perhaps just to scare off the tryhard traditionalists, but this is a genre tag you’ll understand once you sit down with the album in full. In more familiar terms, this record takes country and folk influence into black metal, structuring massive crescendos with post rock sensibility. Black metal always has those pummelling blast beat segments, and Agriculture make them particularly memorable using smart layering of tragic guitars in perfect clarity. Across its 31-minute runtime there are massive, winding dynamics, something I find missing in many extreme metal records. “Look” is a three part epic (four if you count its beautiful short ballad opener “The Well”), featuring the band’s full catastrophic intensity alongside saxophone excursions and start-stop shenanigans. Agriculture found their scene at Oblivion Access earlier this year,and they’re about to do show slots with bands like Glassing, Baroness, Midwife, and Primitive Man.
Sentience – it’s all turned to ash
One of the gems of London hardcore, Sentience, dropped their first material of 2023 with EP it’s all turned to ash. “sekmet” proves itself to be a furious and impassioned track, with lyrics including “ripping at these stitches, one… by… one” that yearn to be yelled back in a live setting, further exemplified by its chorus, featuring Gemma Legan, harbouring a crushing yet memorable vocal hook in “hard place, it’s a hard place to be” and “heartache, when a tree falls and there’s no one” on the dual delivery. Following track “death of grass” being equally as impressive and further demonstrating just how good Sentience are, and how much they deserve to become one of UK hardcore’s bigger acts.
Lauren Bousfield – Salesforce
Lauren Bousfield has been a fundamental force in boundary-pushing electronic music even before the term “hyperpop” was coined. On her new record, Salesforce, the break-beats coalesce from harsh noise, like aligning crystals in a spinning kaleidescope. Vocals are breathy and human but as incomprehensible as you’d hope. My favourite combo is “Hail Sound” / “Permanently Closed” which sculpt terrifying MIDI piano into bit-crushed hyper-ballet. I admire the an approach to sonic layering where several ideas could be taking your complete attention at once. In a sense, it will have taken restraint from Bousfield to not allow any single idea to dominate at any one time. It’s chaos, but in balance and harmony.
Identity Error – Retribution Awaits
There is a solid case for Australia, and more specifically, Melbourne as being one of the hottest scenes for metalcore, hardcore and everything inbetween at the moment. Adding to the likes of Terminal Sleep, Threshold, Algor Mortis and Vengeance, from the coastal state come Identity Error. The four-piece offer up a relentless and encompassing heaviness that will sure capture the ear of many on Retribution Awaits. The dual-singles only leave us yearning for more material, which is hopefully just around the corner.
GOD AWFUL – Premeditated
Over the last year it’s fair to say GOD AWFUL have been putting in the leg work on the tour circuit, most recently performing along the likes of Initiate and Harsh Reality. The unit has now dropped their debut EP Premeditated. With two-step beats, yelled vocals and fist-throwing mayhem make for a record that will fit perfectly within the evergrowing hardcore scene stateside. Given how much they’ve accomplished in the space of a year, it only feels like a matter of time before we will be hearing much more of GOD AWFUL.
Circuit Circuit – Body Songs
The Nashville unit dropped their much anticipated EP, Body Songs, during the start of July. The frantic EP which is ear-ring-inducing from the get-go with pummelling grooves and lacing riffs that pull the record through a journey of chaos. With mastering being handled by Callous Daoboys vocalist Carson Pace, and bassist Jackie Buckalew creating the artwork, they too seem to have given their own seal of approval to the record.
Somewhere to Call Home – Burden
Incoming with bouncing and huge riffs come Somewhere to Call Home, based out off Albany, NY. Hard-hitting “Tongue Tied” that leads the charge for the EP leads into the extended cut of “Lessons (Unwanted Pt.2)“, containing a rawness that makes its emotiveness inescapable. The record doesn’t let up with following tracks, including “Fraud“, which includes a feature from former Sleep Waker vocalist, Hunter Courtright.
The Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir – Heartland Attack
The Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir have been a fairly unrelenting force over the past few years, with little gaps in their release schedule, including last year’s debut LP titled Slow Murder. Less than 10 months later, they have dropped three-track EP, Heartland Attack, continuing their mathy-screamo blend that has an ever-so-slightly unnerving nature to it. Within all this as seen in Slow Murder are the sprinklings of post, noise and punk rock, which lends itself to their abrasive sound.