FEATURED ALBUM
Galleons // Violent Delights
Released: February 8, 2024

This is my favorite album of 2024 so far. It’s massively upbeat, fun, and overflowing with character.

Somehow Galleons have flown under my radar until now which is insane because they have released three other albums since 2018. I can’t even comment on them because I’ve just been jamming this new one. It’s exciting though because I normally discover bands at the start of their career – with Galleons, I have multiple previous albums to explore.

Stylistically, Galleons is similar to Dance Gavin Dance and Eidola. Their clean singer is also the vocalist of Valiant Hearts so there’s obviously some overlap there.

But simply labeling this album as “post-hardcore” would be a disservice to its variety. This thing is dynamic. It’s the wild west and you have no idea how each song will unfold.

And that’s a good thing because ‘Violent Delights’ has 15 songs and is almost an hour long. No matter, the band remains engaging the whole time, offering a fresh take on each song. A big part of that variety is their unique vocal patterns. The singer and screamer constantly trade blows and often fight to overtake the other (the title track is a good example of that).

I’m really struggling with how I compare this to Dance Gavin Dance. When I first listened, I heard unmistakable similarities. Now that I’ve listened more, I don’t think they’re all that close. The main commonality is the chaotic screaming sections. I think I’ll just say that if you like DGD, you will definitely like this. But also, if you don’t like DGD because of Tillian’s singing, you should give this a chance because you’ll probably like Galleons’ more grounded approach.

“Vagabond” is one of my favorite songs. The chorus is a blast and the instruments are super energetic the whole way through. It also has the happiest blast beats I’ve ever heard.

Other favorites include “Deadman Wonderland” (which features Ryu Kinoshita), “Russian Roulette,” and “You Who Swallowed A Falling Star.” In general, I really like the choruses on this album. Even if it’s just on in the background, the chorus in songs like “Lament” and “Crybaby” recapture my interest.

Playlist of New Songs

Quick playlist highlights:

– Darko is such an interesting band to me. They pump out music like crazy and it’s always enthralling. I don’t go back and revisit individual songs very often, but I love the feeling of being part of these drops and experiencing the journey as it unfolds.

– Grayscale Season has a new album coming out on March 8. I really like this single.

– Reflections seems to have two emerging identities. The first is their classic sound which was featured on their previous single, “Alone.” The second is the sound on this song, which is heavily influenced by Calle Thomer. Thomer is one of the masterminds behind Vildhjarta and Humanity’s Last Breath which helps explain the ominous, crushing atmosphere in this Reflections song.

– I listened to Galleons so much on my honeymoon. I chose to feature “Vagabond” because it’s so upbeat and fun. Favorite chorus of the album.

– Upon A Burning Body‘s clean singing is sounding pretty good. I probably need to give these guys another chance. They went off the deep end with their album in 2016, but it seems like they’ve found the right path again.

– Livealie continues to impress with their singles. In case you missed it, this is the new band of Oceans Ate Alaska’s vocalist (James Harrison). He recently announced that he officially left Oceans Ate Alaska and that it was a mistake to rejoin them in the first place. Interestingly, he said Oceans Ate Alaska is focused on “maximum profit for minimum effort.” That will be something to keep in mind as we watch their future efforts unfold.

– After a 15-year hiatus, From A Second Story Window is back. This might be the least expected return I’ve ever seen. This song has so many styles. Progressive metalcore, chaos bordering on mathcore, and the og deathcore style I keep talking about. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

– The Requiem just released their debut album and I’m pretty captivated. Reminds me a bit of Static Dress. I’ve really been enjoying this style lately.

– Mire Lore is Dan Watson’s new band. (He was the original vocalist of Infant Annihilator and Enterprise Earth). He is experimenting with adding clean singing and it’s pretty decent.

– Fever 333 was in the spotlight for quite a while years ago, but this is the first I’ve heard of them in forever. This song has a lot of energy, but I don’t know…I feel like they could be doing something better since they have members from letlive and The Chariot.

– ten56 is Aaron Matts’ new band (he was the vocalist of Betraying the Martyrs). Seems like he jumped ship at the right time because Betraying The Martyrs disbanded in 2023. This song is absolutely the heaviest thing I’ve heard from ten56 so far. It definitely indicates that Betraying The Martyrs’ decline into softness over the years wasn’t Aaron’s fault at all.

– Crossfaith is one of my favorite Japanese metalcore bands. Lots of fun electronic influences, solid screams, and smooth cleans.

FUN FACT – September 11 Album Design

Full of Hell and Nothing shared a few interesting facts about their split EP titled ‘When No Birds Sang.’ Essentially, every part of the EP’s packaging contained obscure 9/11 references.

I’ve included a few screenshots below, but see the thread on X for all the intricate details. It’s important to note that the creators said, “I want to reiterate that nothing here was done as a joke. A lot of energy was spent making sure all the references made were intentional, considered, and ultimately respectful to the source material.”

DRAMA – Psycho-Frame Rip-Off

Honestly, this one is so ridiculous that it might have been a joke to get people riled up. Long story short, this random guy named Ethan Smith ripped off Psycho-Frame’s style, artwork, and EXACT song name. He also claimed his new song would feature Will Ramos (vocalist of Lorna Shore).

Psycho-Frame and Will Ramos responded to this topic, but Psycho-Frame seems to have deleted their tweet (and I didn’t think to screenshot it at the time). 

Here’s the post from Ethan Smith.

Here’s the response from Will Ramos.

Here’s Psycho-Frame’s artwork.

DRAMA – Escuela Grind

Escuela Grind kicked out their guitarist for wanting to protect his hearing and “killing the vibes.”

Since then, a bunch of information has come out that’s adding fuel to the fire. One of their previous van drivers highlighted the band’s bad reputation for stealing money from festivals and other behavior. One of their members is apparently a freemason. And amid allegations that Katarina is a nepo baby whose parents are bankrolling the band, this picture came out. Yes, that is a picture with Laura Bush.

The hardcore/grindcore community definitely has certain political leanings so they are especially up in arms about that last one.

The funniest part though is that Escuela Grind made a vague post addressing their future in which they said, “The only way we grow is hanging out and talking to each other.” And then they turned the post’s comments off. Kind of tough to talk when they disable the conversation to avoid addressing their actions.