OPM: Heavy Is As Heavy Does

Counting Cards – Jormungandr

Muscular, energetic hybrid of punk and metal that mixes the two very effectively. If I had to characterize it in a line or two, I’d say it’s a lot of metal riffs and mostly punk vocals. A few tracks lean into the punk (and maybe a little hardcore) a little heavier, but there’s always an undercurrent of metal’s chugging riffs and sharp edges. 

A few tracks mix it up even more, including a brief diversion in quasi post rock, but the core plan here is shaking up punk and metal like it’s gin and tonic. Here and there the metal/punk compound leans a bit into previous crossbreeds – a little grunge, a touch of metalcore – but generally it’s taking its own tack on things rather than embracing an existing blueprint. 

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Sun Wave Mountain Cave – Paper Town

Classic midwestern indie, similar to late ‘00s vintage, indebted to emo, alt-country, and generations of guitar pop. So, lots of guitars, some nice harmonies, real songs, and not a lot of flashy production or pretense. If you’re out there lamenting that “they don’t make them like they used ta,” well, good news, friend – they do, and this does. 

Your appreciation for this is going to come down to how well the songs speak to you, but I think that’s fine – they’re pretty good songs! My fav is “This House” which nails what the group is doing and kicks the intensity up a notch, to excellent results.

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Rural District Lo-Fi Recording Project – Jolly Johnny and his Oompahing Oomlahs

Delightfully weird and whimsical project that trades in dub, Plunderphonics, and the wild, experimental spirit of a kid with their first tape recorder. Oddball samples, goofy spoken word bits, dubby rhythms, and a love of sound are the bedrock of more or less every track on the album. 

A kind of strange story and thoroughly bizarre humor are layered over that bedrock for maximum impact. The resulting music is trippy, disorienting, and delightful. If you like dub, experimental electronica, or weird blokes from the countryside, check this out. 

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Verstaerker – 20

A mix of heavy, heavy electronic music, descended from industrial, techno, and hardcore (electronic, not punk) with darker, slower, more experimental jams in a similar vein. While almost two-thirds of the album is its darker, dubbier, slower side, in its heart it just wants to be heavy and go hard, with alternately squelchy and moody synths. 

Beats that can cause physical harm, squidgy electronic noises, blasts of noise – oh yeah, this is the good stuff. Even the slower, more experimental stuff has a solid heft and heaviness to it. At its best, this sounds for all the world like science fiction that is mad at you personally and determined to get revenge by pummeling the hell out of you. Joke’s on it, tho – we’re into that shit. 

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Buzzard – Everything Is Not Going to Be Alright

Fuzzed out doom folk protest songs about our current dumpster-fire reality. Really heavy, heartfelt and poetic fuzzed-out doom folk, too – the best kind. Collecting, iterating on and fusing genres like gothic country, protest songs, punk, and stoner doom makes for a potent and effective sound. 

The songs benefit from this heavy, riff-powered aesthetic – every message goes down better when powered by badass riffage. At a tight seven songs and just a touch over 30 minutes, it’ll leave you wanting more, and probably wondering how great this must be live…

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