#sunndrug

Lo/Hi released a new song called “Eloise.”

Sunndrug are streaming Exit Wounds ahead of it’s release. 

The Shins have a new song out called “Dead Alive.”

Berwanger released a video for “Exorcism Rock” just in time for Halloween.

You Blew It have a new song out called “Greenwood.”

Fall Out Boy’s third album, 2007’s Infinity On High, is the album that made me fall in love with music. That’s something many people know about me, especially if you’re a longtime reader, but my life would be a lot different if I never listened to that album. Not only would I not be the person I am today, because I never would have begun my “love affair with music,” so to speak, I wouldn’t be able to do what I am today, either. Part of why I started writing reviews in the first place was to showcase how much I really love and cherish music in its purest form. When I was a wee lad, reading through old issues of Alternative Press Magazine that I still have somewhere in my room, I would read the reviews in the back of the magazine. I don’t know if they still feature a lot of reviews, but I loved reading those for two reasons – I loved seeing reviews of albums I was into, and whether or not I agreed or disagreed, I was still interested to hear what other people thought about those albums, and those reviews led me to some great music, too. People don’t give critics enough credit sometimes. Critics are great for introducing fans to music they’ve never heard, regardless of how they feel. I can’t count the number of albums I’ve listened to, thanks to a critic like Spectrum Pulse, or the writers on AbsolutePunk (back in the day, at least). My point is, I got inspired to write reviews myself, because I wanted to do those things, too. I wanted to give people my own perspective on albums that I’ve been listening to, and I wanted to possibly introduce people to bands, artists, and albums that they’ve most likely never heard before. Everything comes down to merely loving music enough to want to share it with people. A lot of music fans want to keep their favorite bands to themselves, but music is meant to be shared. It needs to be shared, because when an album comes along that makes me fall in love with all music all over again, the same way that Infinity On High did about nine years ago, I need to share that with people.

How I can not share an album like that? I’d be robbing people of the chance to fall in love with an album that might potentially change their lives. That’s not to say that every album I listen to is an album that makes me feel the same way that Infinity On High did all those years ago, but when I listen to an album like that, I just know. You don’t feel that way many times, and I’ve only felt like that a few times since 2007. The last time I can remember vividly was in 2014, when I picked up a copy of The Beatles’ 1967 masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. That album changed my life, honestly; I only had really listened to a greatest hits album of The Beatles, entitled 1, but that featured all of their number one singles, and I wanted to listen to their discography, but I had no idea where to start. I started with the one album that didn’t have a song that made it to number one, which was Sgt Pepper’s, but that album completely changed my life. It’s a fantastic album that influenced so many bands, artists, and an entire generation of musicians. That’s the last time I vividly remember feeling that way about an album, at least until a few weeks ago. The best things in life happen unexpectedly. Recently I met a girl that is absolutely amazing in every single way, and I never expected to meet her, but the best albums are like that, too. You never expect to find them, or to listen to them, but when you press play for the first time, you feel something that you don’t feel very often, because not many albums like that exist. Sit tight, folks, because for the first time in about two years, I’ve found an album that makes me fall in love with music all over again. That album is Exit Wounds, the debut LP from electronic, hard-rock, post-rock, post-metal, industrial, and alt-metal act Sunndrug.

First and foremost, I’d like to extend my thanks to Jesea Lee from High Road Publicity for sliding this album in my inbox, because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have listened to this record, nor would I even be aware of Sunndrug’s existence. Sunndrug is a new band that’s composed of former members of metalcore acts Spitfire, and Norma Jean, who coincidentally just released a new album that I love. That’s a big reason why I decided to listen to Exit Wounds, but the main reason was just how interesting the album came off. Reading their biography, and the press release of the album, I was very curious about its ideas and its overall sound. When an album that interesting and that unique comes along, how can I not listen to it? If I have the chance to listen to it a couple months ahead of time, before almost just about everyone (minus other critics and music news outlets), I’ll take it. Exit Wounds is just as unique, interesting, and intriguing as its sounds, but goddamn, this album is utterly amazing in every single way. I haven’t felt like this album an album in a couple of years, and I’d be hard-pressed not to call Exit Wounds a masterpiece. This album is everything that I love about music encapsulated into a single piece of music. Sunndrug combines elements of electronic music, industrial, hard-rock, alt-metal, shoegaze, post-rock / metal, and many more genres to create a very surreal, weird, strange, but beautiful, gorgeous, hard-hitting, powerful, and intense record that just hits on every single level. The overall sound of this album is the most intriguing part of this LP, because of how unique it is. I love unique acts, regardless of the genre, but it doesn’t always work, because some ideas are left better on paper than in terms of their execution. This album works on every level, especially its execution; they manage to combine all of these sounds into a very flowing, focused, and oddly consistent album that really should be all over the place. The band keeps things very tight and focused, but this album constantly switches styles, or introduces new ideas to itself.