• …YOU MISSED • As part of our yearly recap the …You Missed series attempts to collect interesting releases I’d otherwise missed, didn’t cover, or didn’t appreciate until later. This is -NOT- a best of, but a collection of interesting curios worth mentioning as we reflect upon the year. // In an attempt to be more conversational these are more easygoing and casual than longform reviews, so relax and think for yourself. — If you find something you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase! If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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Fort Lauderdale, Florida-borne quintet GOUGE AWAY certainly aren’t limited to a noise rock tag so much as their sound resembles the noisier, most irreverent guitar striking excess of alternative rock in the early 90’s. ‘Deep Sage’ is a ruckus to be sure and some of its best moments center around clangor and feedback blaring guitar wielding pumps but the major step taken on this record centers around tuneful decompression, confessional pieces which juxtapose confrontation with self-examination most often. Ranting but contained within flattening three minute alt-aggro punched pieces there is some joy in following their exploration of the gamut, what sounds like a band in their prime shaking serious ass and loosening up enough to feel the existential dread evaporating beyond the fallout each statement.

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London, England-based quartet USA NAILS have long been among my favorite bands after being impressed by their split with Tongue Party and finding ‘Life Cinema‘ to be one of the best albums of 2019. Now having stepping into their tenth year and having fully foundered their own personae within a combination of noise rock, post-punk and hardcore punk tendencies it’d be fair to say that they’ve built character and presence which builds an expectation of quality and unhindered expression for ‘Feel Worse’. Naturally their already very consistent streak continues as they lean into some noisier waves, bigger bounding grooves and still gnashing anti-capitalist narratives. They’ve managed an anthem or two here as well, pieces like “Pack of Dogs” which buzz along as if dissociative crust energy were put into a stadium sized vaunt and presented dripping with disdain. The scrambling math of the lead guitars and kinetic rush of their rhythms (re: title track) are of course the big deal here but I’d appreciated the paradigm breaking check of “Holiday Sea” set in the middle of the album to keep it all from flowing together. I’d also greatly appreciated the unpredictive sprawl of closer “I Love it When You Succeed” for the sheer guitar noise of it, the more skronking Ginn-isms they manage the better. These folks never disappoint and only become more distinct with every passing year.

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Though I’d recognized some of the main components of San Diego, California-based experimental noise rock/post-punk troupe PSYCHIC GRAVEYARD in passing, namely vocalist Eric Paul‘s distinct doubled-up snarled timbre, but I hadn’t given their discography a deep roll ’til they’d done a split with USA Nails back in 2022. Their work has only become more diverse after increasingly experimental output beyond 2020 and I suppose ‘Wilting‘ is the one to reel it all into a most cohesive but still ranting free-formed beast as the electronic buzz and spiraling guitar wrenched spikes of their craft melt together in easier moving pieces. The voice and vision of the band is as sour and sarcastic as one’d want, as they continue this thread of less abrasive and more thoughtfully cut pieces. From my point of view this is one of the most representative releases from the band and a very good place to start if previews generate any interest.

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Fairly underrated Trondheim, Norway-based noise rock duo BARREN WOMB bring their own sense of humor derived from observations of rural absurdity and inside jokes to help characterize each of their releases and ‘Chemical Tardigrade‘ is no exception. Their sound is more attuned to the alternative rock/post-hardcore spectrum as tuneful as it can be but there are some faster burners (“D-Beatles”) and grunge-holes (“Illiterati”) which find them tinkering with their sound in ways that one could easily consider fun rather than pained. Though I’m not a fan of fun at all, and don’t approve of musicians enjoying themselves in the slightest, these folks manage their own punk rocking n’ rolling sound as they squat out these largely inventive, enthused alt-noise rock jams. Overall I’d say there were a few songs on ‘Lizard Lounge‘ that were catchier but this album is more complete as an exploration of ideas and generally more consistent overall.

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Though it might sound kinda trite to suggest that a crew of veteran musicians with readied-up personage has matured over the course of the four years since their debut Portland, Oregon-based quartet ILS now soar above the high bar they’d set for themselves between the dark madness of ‘Pain Don’t Hurt‘ and their debut LP ‘Curse‘ (2020). More atmosphere, more grounded in huge-ass riffs and louder than Hell ‘To End is to Begin‘ is a full stretch and slam into being, a flex upon their surroundings with these elastic-ass riffs snapping and slapping their way through each of these tormented and heavy grooving songs. If you cut your teeth on the heavier stuff getting into noise rock, ever felt like you were going to have a heart attack at an Unsane show or want something as imaginative and next-level as Child Bite these folks are among the best to ever put some extra grime on it. If I hadn’t only just learned about this release a couple months ago I’d definitely have had it boosted up on my best of in August. Essential stuff for aggro-brained folks who appreciate a proper groove applied to noise rock/post-hardcore shout n’ clank fuckery.

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If you thought the latest Whores. record was wildly aggressive, noisome and nutso on a visceral level hold on to your ass as you approach New York City’s COUCH SLUT on this skull scrambling fourth LP where it feels like they took the “noise” part of noise rock more serious than ever. Toying with different tempos, some ancient sludge grooves and noxious sound design throughout this feels like a peaking point of inadvisable excess where the narrative and the brutality are on high. Another band now in their tenth year of maturity and hitting their stride in terms of expertise, expectations and execution these folks are no doubt hitting harder than ever here on the broken speaker tear of ‘You Could Do It Tonight‘ another tour of hellish personal experience, dark humor and reactivity which should rightfully overwhelm to start. The ‘In My Head‘-era Black Flag copped bassline of the fucked up narrative explored on “The Donkey” has to be one of my favorite moments of 2024 in terms of getting as uncomfortable as possible without losing any curiosity for what comes next. But again, that is about the limit for me.

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The fifth full-length album from Kalamazoo, Michigan-borne noise rock quartet GOD BULLIES comes a full thirty years beyond the last and they’ve returned in style with Father Hard at the pulpit on this fatly booming Electrical Audio stoked recording, pushing serious wind as the preaching intensifies. The rhythm section gets such an upgrade in tautness and overall stampede worthy kicks on this recording compared to their weird-ass 90’s material that it feels like ‘As Above So Below‘ is a full satellite zoom in on their gear, a record that hits big enough you may very well put up with the psycho ranting bustle of their gig. If you’re big on post-’94 Jesus Lizard, the less severe bopping of Melvins‘ same era and are a fan of a swinging yet ear-raking sound there is a lot to love here. I’m mostly there for the rhythm section and Hard‘s hardiness and my only issue is the sheer crackle of certain guitar outputs, it all just kinda explodes and breaks on more brooding songs like “Lies (WWG1WGA)” but works brilliantly on more wide-swinging grooves like those on “Help”. It doesn’t all come together as well as some of the other records on this list but their work is of similar quality.

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Written by guitarist Jonathan Nido during the inception of the global pandemic circa MMXX this latest full-length album from La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland-based quartet COILGUNS must’ve undergone countless revisions and collective machining to achieve a result that feels like a leap, a step beyond the high of ‘Watchwinders‘ (2019) where their math-metallic crunch, noise rock harried shouts, and alt-rock primed sense of songcraft all thrive in cracking motion. ‘Odd Love‘ is suggested as an exploration of their relationship with music both as a challenge, a fundamentally difficult path, and a passion which could (and often is) devoured by the harsh reality of the business itself. I see this subject matter as a point of more clearly doing what they want, accepting their strange inclinations while also enjoying the weirder tics a bit more and this manifests as a record that is both contemplative and appreciably performative, packed with interesting details overall. Their sound probably leans more into the realm of post-hardcore but that doesn’t necessarily mean the raw side of their work isn’t there or than they’ve shirked the heavy guitar noise and howling delivery one’d expect. There are however some more accessible songs that fans of groovier riffs and maybe even some post-metal adjacent ideas (and beyond, see: “Venetian Blinds”) would also appreciate. Also I’d felt it was worth mentioning the hi-fi quality of the production here, a feature you’ll notice much more clearly on physical medium or a non-streaming application of their sound as there is plenty more depth and scalability with volume that occurs when ‘Odd Love‘ hits a more audiophile worthy setup.

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Phoenix, Arizona-based quartet COMMON WOUNDS are arguably noise rock influenced by potentially just children of the 90’s who’d appreciated a certain era of aggro post-hardcore, Unsane, third gen emo/melodic hardcore and some manner of alternative rock and post-metal judging by the broad spectrum of sounds they cover within this debut full-length album. ‘All Night Blood‘ isn’t quite a barn-burner so much as a shouted out catharsis to start but they’ve got a gruff shouter up front and this allows the album to mess around with a broad palette otherwise. Some manner of angular riffcraft breaks into the fray of it but as the album presses on we get the more melodious side of the band as well. As a continuation and refinement of their 2023 self-titled EP this is not a shocking evolution but a smart one which carries us through many modes with conviction in every case. If you are interested in something more broadly hardcore influenced that still has the skronk and splatter of noise rock/post-hardcore in mind this is a strong and I’d say distinctly modern option that still feels like it comes from a sincere place.

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Boston, Massachusetts-based trio MIRACLE BLOOD aren’t the first noise rock/hardcore punk band with a vocalist to Biafra/Grisham-out something fierce but they wear it well on this buster of a sophomore full-length album, a wall of manic noise, swerving metallic grooves and declarative spasticity. ‘Hello Hell‘ is in this sense a direct follow-up with great parity per their 2022 debut ‘Melter‘ only this time around they’re messing with some different guitar sounds, production is once again loud and slapping-hot but brilliantly defined, and the vocals are generally whipping up more of a frenzied state. There are some moshable hardcore-feeling theatrics in their work (see: certain parts of “Ghosts Marching Slow”) but this level of vamp is all the more appreciated as they pound through each of these songs at a pretty brisk clip through tend ~3-4 minute songs. Its pretty damned rare that I suggest a noise rock attuned band “do a bit more of that weird hardcore shit” but I was entertained anytime they took a side road or went on an unprovoked tangent.

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The noise rock tag both perfectly suits and kinda undersells the -massive- glom that is United States/Italy-borne quartet BUÑUEL who’ve now long ascended the most classic definitions and associations of the (already very loosely defined) sub-genre in creating their own league of incredibly impassioned avant-garde anti-rocking yet somehow big grooving sensation. ‘Mansuetude‘ is a sophisticated gentleman’s internalized madness, the anger and the wild as fuck joy, cut loose in a way that it still holds shape and flows naturally to form the ‘real’ outline of the internalized extremophile. Even as a huge fan who has always appreciated Oxbow and this band’s discography in great depth I kinda have to hand it to Eugene S. Robinson for putting his entire being into these performances, the lyrics are beyond to the point that I’m still floored by this record several months later no matter how often I pick it up and fall into “Who Missed Me”, “Movement No. 201”, “A Killing on the Beach” et al. and it goes without saying that this is the most varied, extreme, active opus the quartet have arranged to date as the artful vision of the band sprawls through this hourlong fidget-and-flow session. Expect this one very well represented on my Best of 2024 list, the only reason I didn’t cover it back in October was that it’d hit me at the very end of the month and this one needs time and deep, deep stare to appreciate.

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