RELEASE REVIEW

Not every album has to reinvent the wheel, and Tӧrz haven’t. But if you love post rock, there's probably something in here for you.

There are bands in every genre that make an indelible mark on both a generation of fans and a generation of musicians. In what is now a burgeoning post-rock scene bursting with instrumental mood-makers, the debt owed to Chicago-based riff lords Pelican is substantial.

Gnarly and snarling extended play from returning LA industrial duo Youth Code, built from the minds of multi-instrumentalists Sara Taylor and Ryan George.

In a landscape smothered by algorithmic sterility and suffocating overproduction, Knives’ debut album tears through this idle fabric with grounded intent and scathing delivery. GLITTER is a larger than life, theatrical production of chaotic, punk-forward soundscapes, peppered with jazz and metal influences that catapult the band from fledgling noise-makers into a self-assured force to be reckoned with. The album’s production refrains from over-indulgence and carefully brings their intricate layers to the forefront when appropriate.

Led by Black and Cherokee composer and multi-instrumentalist Takiaya Reed, Divide and Dissolve release their new almost entirely instrumental record Insatiable into the world, a world she saw through an optimistic lens.

Genre bending group TAMIW's new album Farewell Party is "an emotionally raw yet hopeful body of work, born from personal upheaval and artistic rebirth." As they deal with loss within their musical family.

Who said concept albums were only meant for progressive metal albums that go beyond the one-hour mark? Danish hardcore troupe EYES take us through a world heavily inspired by manga author Asano Inio

As a race, we (understandably) have a habit of veering away from what makes us uncomfortable. Death and grief being a combination that we are particularly adept at avoiding. Pretend it’s not there waiting for you for long enough, and maybe you’ll convince yourself it isn’t.

Sacrifice the ability to perceive higher thoughts, embrace overwhelming defeat, experience the violence dimension.

Shoegaze and emo-inspired trio Soot Sprite have long been dubbed ones to watch. With this debut it’s not hard to see why.

Mid Death Crisis sees Wednesday 13 sticking rigidly to their established formula, and while that might please the most die-hard fans, it leaves little room for genuine excitement or innovation. After ten albums, the shock theatrics and horror-obsessed lyricism feel more like well-worn costume props than tools for meaningful musical expression. What should have been a bold, venomous statement instead feels like a half-hearted victory lap.

Unapologetically bleak, ugly and grotesque but somehow absolutely beautiful. Masters of misery Ghost Bath are showing yet again how despair and depression can conjure up the most striking art.