Look, we know we throw a lot of new music at you. We also know that not everyone who comes to this site has the time to be as involved with or informed about the local scene as maybe they’d like to be. So for those casual readers who either can’t or have no interest in keeping up with the parade of artists we try to cover, who may not know the difference between Bitter and Biters, we have created our TRIPLE THREAT feature. The premise is simple: every Friday our writers will put their heads together and come up with three tracks that grabbed our attention over that week. Then we tell you why the songs are great and worth listening to. That’s it. Maybe some weeks we’ll have a guest commentator come in and share their favorites, but the format will always remain the same: three songs, some words, and we out. Enjoy.
Whores. – “Flag Day”
From the BASH 17 10″ Comp
Released in anticipation of Amphetamine Reptile’s upcoming BASH 17, “Flag Day” finds Whores. stirring up a hornet’s nest of pulverizing noise rock dissonance and bad intentions. There was a time where I was nervous that the trio’s abrasive assault would fall into repetition and self-imitation, but the band deftly skirted those concerns by speeding up the tempos and somehow growing meaner and more caustic. In exchange they’ve sacrificed some of their melodic undertones, but for a group that trades this deeply in gut-rumbling tension and bruising riffs, that’s an exchange easily worth making. – Guillermo Castro
Whores. kickoff their U.S. tour tonight at the Drunken Unicorn. They will be supported by Wrong and Bummer. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $12. 18+ to enter.
More Info
Bandcamp: whores.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @whrsband
Instagram: @whoresband
Twitter: @whoresbandatl
Death of Kings – “Shadow of the Reaper”
From the upcoming LP, Kneel Before None
It was only a month ago that I was complaining about Death of Kings sluggish album release, but they’ve finally announced their debut LP, and along with it, the heavy thrash masterpiece “Shadow of the Reaper.” Death of Kings are more keen on mining the depths of vintage thrash and heavy metal for inspiration than trying to reinvent the genre, but the new single proves that rather than hindering their creativity, the ghosts of metal past bless their riffs with brutal authenticity, even as they blur the lines between metal sub-genres. – Russell Rockwwell
Kneel Before None is out June 2 via Boris Records.
Death of Kings will celebrate the release of Kneel Before None on Thurs., June 1 at the Basement. Supporting them will be Dropout, Repulsory, and Aggravated. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $10. 18+ to enter.
More Info
Bandcamp: deathofkings.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @deathofkingsmetal
SoundCloud: @deathofkings
Twitter: @deathofkings
Swamp – “The Cloud Eaters”
From the LP, Funereal Tymes
I’ve seen this place before. I can’t say I’ve cut my hair by the light of a TV screen, mind. But the desolation here, suspense mounded like clothes on an unkept bed for a future that can’t be defined, the cliff’s edge on which that future swings between promising and dire — this all looks familiar. “Look,” I say, because for the wild and wooly Swamp, aching meditations about the mediocre now aren’t the norm. They’re generally the free-wheeling sort, more prone to crumble into entropy like Swell Maps instead of unloading pent-up distress like some darling misfits from Olympia. But here they are, with a gloriously broken outlook that teeters between despair (“this town is just an exit sign”) and hope (“I think something big is going to fall down right on me / and it’s going to be mine”). Yes, I’ve definitely been here before — this is the crossroads between adolescence and adulthood, where potential pushes forward and self-doubt clings at your back. And if I linger too long at this place that “The Cloud Eaters” so vividly renders, I’m going to fucking cry. – Lee Adcock
More Info
Bandcamp: swampathens.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @swampthangs