punk this week: powerplant, guitar wolf, 2m8o + 13 more
New records from legends. A Bordeaux d-beat band that’s unafraid of rock theatrics. A fuzz-slathered monolith recorded in Havana. Tap in.
Hey, it’s Punk This Week. Today we got the long-anticipated return from Powerplant, a surprise full-length from Guitar Wolf, plus new ones from Daniel Romano’s Outfit, 2m8o, Shop Talk, Ismatic Guru, and more. Want to hear an unbelievable French hardcore via NWOBHM record? An astounding hardcore record from Perth? A Cuban band’s self-produced record that sounds like Unwound?
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See you at the TAKAAT show in Eau Claire on Wednesday?
Powerplant: Bridge of Sacrifice [Arcane Dynamics]
After the undeniable pop excellence of “Heat,” I wasn’t excited about what the opening title track from Powerplant’s Bridge of Sacrifice seemed to foretell. The lead single and its accompanying video foregrounded storm the castle gimmickry via dungeon synth black metal. It’s a pleasant surprise to find that this album, while embodying its chosen aesthetic as fully as possible across an entire album, never exhausts the listener with the bit. It’s a record that knows when to ease all the way back off the smothering double-bass before rearing all the way back up. The lyrics feel human even while they’re in full costume. There’s a real sense of their best pop songwriting coming through on “Last Wheel” and “Wingspan” even as it embraces the same genre decisions that kick the album off.
After EPs, loose singles, and Stump Soup, this is the first new full-length Theo Zhykharyev has delivered in seven years, and in some ways, it’s a far cry from what he delivered with People in the Sun. In others, Bridge of Sacrifice just feels like the winter to the first album or “Heat”’s summer. This is the latest installment in the discography of someone who’s exceptional at writing hooks, but doesn’t seem interested in retreading the same sonic ground again and again. The allegations of cosplay or surface level D&D-washing just don’t stick to this record. This guy has handed us his latest screenplay, and it’s got some of his best songs in here. (“Wingspan,” for real, is a major Powerplant song.) Whatever he turns in next time, there’s no way it’s a direct sequel.
