A very happy New Music Friday holiday weekend to you all!
We love a long weekend, don’t we folks? And what better to complement that long weekend than a few new jams to make it really pop. This week leans heavy, but every single one of these tracks is a certified banger in its own right. You won’t be disappointed.
‘PIRATES’ by XCOMM ft. GHOSTEMANE
When old heads (it’s me, I’m the old heads) say, “the kids are alright,” they’re talking about XCOMM.
This Venice Beach hardcore punk band has been on a f**kin’ scorcher of a run lately, and now they’ve got a brand new album, Time To Burn, and a new single: “Pirates”, featuring none other than the man himself, Ghostemane.
The tune starts with a relentlessly angry minute of fury, then Ghostemane comes to slow it down. The trap metal master lends his distinctive vocals through an eerie bridge that comes barreling into a heavy a** final breakdown ending.
I cannot stress this enough: you need to be listening to XCOMM.
“4X4” by Gideon
Praise Dale and raise hell… the boys in Gideon are back with two tons of metal for your garage-beer weekend.
This is that 2026 Holler Hardcore, right here. Architecturally, it’s nu-metal, but nu-metal soaked in whiskey caked in backwoods mud. If you want real walk-the-walk blue collar metal, well, you’ve found it: “I’ll be a country motherf**er til the day I die!“
Gideon is currently on the “Let It Rip” North American Tour with Alpha Wolf, Mugshot, and Resolve. Tickets are available on the band’s website.
“Your name, it’s walking” by Truck Violence
I chose to put Gideon and Truck Violence back-to-back because I find them to be almost two sides of the same coin. It’s heavy, confrontational, working-class music.
Of course, where Gideon leans more southern nu-metal, Truck Violence feels closer to late 90s metalcore. It’s loud, distorted noise rock, but it feels inspired by Botch or old Converge.
This week, the Canadian band released their newest single, “Your name, It’s walking”. The four-minute-plus track is dark, melodic chaos steeped in desperation. It does, however, spend some soft moments in a folky banjo plateau, before surging to a cataclysmic finale.
Their new album, The weathervane is my body, will be out June 26 on The Flenser.
“Cellophane” by Index
This one is for all you deepcut 2010s scenesters. Oh, but it’s not going to be what you’re expecting at all.
Former members of Control Top, Alan Creedon and Alex Lichtenauer, are now Index. The duo is making some truly merciless noise rock with their first song, “Cellophane”, out now. It’s chaotic, but it’s directed and purposeful.
That this is only the beginning for Index is a great thing for us all.
“Spiritual Obliteration” by 100 Demons
The beatdown boys are back in f**king town.
Connecticut’s own 100 Demons have once again been unleashed, and they are bringing hell with them. The band just dropped a new single, “Spiritual Obliteration”, which heralds their new album, Embrace the Black Light (out June 5 from Closed Casket Activities).
This s**t is chuggy, mean, and heavy as BALLS. It’s early 2000s breakdown-metalcore reclaiming its birthright throne. All hail.
The post New Music Friday: 5 Songs You Need to Hear This Week (5/22) appeared first on VICE.
