HYLI Vol. LXV - Scowl and Ragana
Andy sends Patrick some Bay Area black metal from last decade and Patrick sends Andy some Bay Area hardcore from 2021. Bay Area Ladies Week™️.
This is a bit embarrassing. We’ve been doing this newsletter for like a year and a half now and have had, like, five albums from non-male-fronted bands. Maybe a few more given some of Andy’s bands aren’t exactly putting a ton of biographical information into the ether. But still, far from enough. So we decided we would do some of our favorite recent female-fronted records this week. I get Andy has a bit of a natural barrier with some of his selections since metal can be, at least for some sub-genres, a little male-dominated, but I can’t think of any good reason really why I haven’t selected some of my favorite records for this but oh well I guess, I am stupid sometimes (Andy: Louder for the people in the back). Here are two albums we liked, Hope You Like It. To maintain some sort of a semblance of the normal intro paragraph here, I (Patrick) went to friend-of-HYLI Spencer Wills’ wedding this weekend and it was sick. They played Blink-182 for their first dance and I got mad and happy at the same time. I love my friends and I love love. HYLI bye see ya next week.
Scowl - How Flowers Grow
Patrick: It seems like people have turned on Scowl a bit recently, for what seems like one of three or so reasons: a) the band opened their Sound and Fury set last year with a cover of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room,” b) their new EP, Psychic Dance Routine, spends half the songs doing what they did on How Flowers Grow and the other half doing Courtney Love worship (Andy: not great, bob) (Patrick: one of the dumbest things you’ve said), or c) just because they’re another one of the bands in this recent wave of hardcore that’s putting up absolute numbers with the apps and services since the pandemic. All of these reasons are, for better or worse, stupid and representative of why The Hardcore Guy can be one of the more insufferable types of guys out there. Let’s take these apart piece by piece. The Fugazi Cover: man, covers are good, especially when they are live covers and not recorded ones and if you’re going to fault a band for covering a huge song that’ll rile a Sound and Fury crowd up for what could potentially be this band’s biggest set that they’ll ever do, I would recommend being less cynical. The change in sound: I kinda get this one more, it’s a taste thing. Are you into Hole? Some people (not me in the slightest) are not, so I can see the alt-rock pivot lessening some enjoyment but the songs there are still decidedly hardcore tunes. Idk, weird one to me, but not as weird as the others. The quick growth: idk, man, get a life lol. It is plainly sick that a band like this or Drain or Knocked Loose or whatever can be playing Coachella and get massive. Be normal.
How Flowers Grow is my favorite Scowl release. Kat Moss is such a sick vocalist. “Bloodhound” is SUCH a great opening tune, really sets the mood here. “Pay Privilege Due” also goes pretty fucking hard, with a great riff and groove, reminding me a lot of Rohnert Park. And for the people who thought the new direction on Psychic Dance Routine felt out of nowhere, did you just skip over “Seeds to Sow,” the best song on here? Come on (Andy: Not the best song but it was very good). Anyways, not my favorite hardcore band going but one that is really, really talented that people should touch grass when discussing it seems. Fun band, fun album, Hope You Like It.
Andy: Good shit my guy. The riffs here are fun. Vocals are killer. I love that hardcore is having a moment right now. 10 songs, 16 minutes - hell yeah, brother. This album is simple in the best way. They don't try too hard, they just show up, kick teeth, and get out.
“Seeds to Sow” is a super catchy and fun break in the middle of the album. I caught on during the first listen that Drain’s Sammy Ciaramitaro shows up on “Fuck Around.” I can’t tell you how many times I listened to this album this last week but it was probably close to a million cause the whole thing is basically 15 minutes long (Patrick: hell yeah). I enjoyed it each spin.
Internet Hardcore Guys seem to be being dweebs about the new EP. I haven’t listened yet but Patrick says they’re being dweebs for dweeby reasons so I won’t let that influence me. If this was any other week than the week that my probable AOTY dropped I’d be a bit more hype about this but that is just the circumstances of the times. Thanks for Scowl. Good band name. I Liked It.
Ragana - You Take Nothing
Andy: Ragana is a good band. They make very good esoteric sentimental doom metal (their words). They had a sick split with Thou and should be dropping their first new album in 6 years in 2023. They have some tour dates this year with Agriculture, another band I am very high on. Good stuff!
Ragana combines elements of cerebral doom metal, touches of blackened post-hardcore, atmospheric black metal, and somber post-rock sludge in their sound. They do a great job of nailing these sounds. Really gives me a cinematic vibe. “Winters Light” and “You Take Nothing” are particularly great. You can feel the darkness, the cold, and the beauty of it all wrapped up in these songs. When atmospheric black/doom is good, it is so good.
Patrick up there talking shit in the intro but ladies have been rightfully making headway in the metal scene (Patrick: that is not how I intended it at all lol come on). Lots of good metalcore, doom, deathcore bands coming out featuring female or non-binary members. We always need better representation in metal (Patrick: this is all I was saying lol).
Patrick: Let’s goooo. Absolutely awesome vocals here. You Take Nothing reminds me a lot of another female-fronted metal band I like a lot called Oathbreaker. I’m sure Andy is hip to Oathbreaker (Andy: I am hip). I don’t think I’ve ever discussed them with him, though, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear something so similar here (Andy: Ragana is “better” imho).
Lots of really great instrumentals here. “To Leave” almost kind of reminds me of Birds in Row and Loma Prieta instrumentally, though Ragana is much heavier than those bands vocally. Lots of cool single-note-type riffs that build into something kind of post-metal. There’s a tremolo-picking riff in “Winter’s Light” that goes from something like Cult of Luna into full black metal and I absolutely love it. Totally beautiful guitar playing mixing with berserk vocals. The vocals are the main star here for sure. Even the clean singing on “Somewhere” is convincing and much better than those you typically get from some post-metal-type bands or black metal bands that flirt with non-shrieky vocals on occasion. I really liked this and will be checking out more, thanks to my friend and colleague Andy.