AUGUST SHOUT-OUTS VOL. I: TWIN ATLANTIC, HEARTLINE, POPPY WIZARD
For those that have read any of my previous month-based shout-out installments you know the drill, but for those that haven’t, the premise is very simple: we look at a handful of releases from either the current or just-passed month that caught my ear and deserved a shout-out! Here we have a trio from the current month almost in the books, and we’ll discuss the second trio probably next week.
Twin Atlantic-Meltdown
Glasgow’s Twin Atlantic may lead off Meltdown with a riff that sounds an awful lot like Incubus’s "Privilege," but the heart and soul, if you’ll pardon the pun, of the album lies much closer to that of bands like You Me At Six. Twin Atlantic have written a number of legitimately great rock songs throughout their career, but Meltdown is their most complete offering to date, with the songs falling roughly into one of two camps: the buoyant, arena-worthy pop-rock numbers like "Get Out" and the more pensive—but no less impressive in their careful crafting—ones like "Sorry." Beyond the top-tier songwriting, the album is lyrically strong and often deeply resonated with me. Meltdown is one of my favorite releases of the year so far.
Poppy Wizard-Holy Spirit Gang
Not to overstate the contents of this five-song EP, but ah, what the hell: German outfit Poppy Wizard are a revelation. They remind me of a dreamier version of Higher Power or if a band decided to take Dead Swans’ My Bloody Valentine cover "When You Sleep" and build it out into a sonic ethos, mixed with a healthy dose of 90s alternative rock and especially grunge. I’ve seen their style described as "grungegaze," and while I think that’s accurate, there is a foundation in hardcore that is lost in said description. Poppy Wizard have crafted a really powerful sound that hits "all the feels."
Heartline-Pink Lemonade
Lastly we come to Adelaide, Australia’s Heartline, an intriguing blend of post-hardcore, metalcore, and EDM melded together in their version of electronicore. The video for "Lovers" below is a good microcosmic starting-point for their sound (it slaps), but some other highlights from the EP include "Synthetic," which reminded me a lot of what it would sound like if Bitter Kisses (shameless self-plug, you can view my interview with Bitter Kisses here) ratcheted-up the metal of their recent single "Dissolve" even further, and the 808s and modern R&B meets Depeche Mode of "New Immune." There’s a lot of potential on display on this release, and I eagerly await to see where Heartline go from here.