TONGUECUTTER - "Dust Collector"

TONGUECUTTER: thrash and riot grrrl influences shine on Michigan power trio's new single "Dust Collector"

Tonguecutter has released "Dust Collector," the new single from the band's upcoming debut full-length, Minnow.

Stream the "Dust Collector" music video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czPUNrWrd9s

Pre-order the album, out May 2nd on Learning Curve Records, here: https://tonguecutter.bandcamp.com/album/minnow

A power trio hailing from the remote lakeshore town of Muskegon, Michigan, Tonguecutter initiates a spectacular collision of thrash and grunge on Minnow. Meaty riffage and sly rhythmic shifts lay a base over which vocalist/guitarist Chantal Roeske lets loose an irradiant display of angst. The jubilant riffage of Suicidal Tendencies, the progressive bent of Voivod, and the almighty howling rage of Hole are all present. But the real greatness lies in Roeske's melodic sensibility, as a singer and songwriter, with each song taking unexpected twists and blooming with unforeseen hooks.

A recent review from Destroy//Exist reads: "Blending the heavier side of grunge with powerful guitars and dynamic vocals, the band's sound is both intense and hard hitting, delivering an electrifying energy that demands attention."

The second single to be released from Minnow, "Dust Collector" is a stomping thrasher crowned by Roeske's soaring vocals. Roseke reveals that the song is an ode to a maternal figure from her past: "I wrote the lyrics for 'Dust Collector' about my first neighbor as a young adult, Mary Beth. She was a hell of a character and taught me how to cover up the taste of alcohol with rum, and treat cat wounds. The song represents those weird neighbors that are protectors of wild youth."

Roeske's musical journey goes back more than 30 years. "I started my first band as a teenager in 1994, with influences like DRI, Anthrax and Babes in Toyland," she states. "It was fast as hell but had a lot of grunge and riot grrrl flavor."

A town of only 40,000 people, Tonguecutter's base of Muskegon possesses a wealth of punk lore. It is the birthplace of James Osterberg, Jr., a.k.a. Iggy Pop, and it was the home of The Disappointments, a unit that served as GG Allin's backing band for a stretch in the late 1980s. Today, Tonguecutter thrives amidst a Michigan scene that includes bands such as Cloud Rat and Bronson Arm.

Photo by Viki Stark

HEAVY HALO - "Failure."

HEAVY HALO: alt-industrial dream team delivers new single "Failure."; music video pays tribute to computer viruses of the 1990s

Alt-industrial dream team Heavy Halo has revealed "Failure.," the new single from its forthcoming album, Damaged Dream.

Stream the official music video for "Failure." – consisting entirely of footage of actual computer viruses from the 1990s, bearing ominous names such as Crucifixion, Fear, Ithaqua, Morphine, and Possessed – here: https://youtu.be/IKeg0-36ZNU

Vocalist McKeever gives this statement about the new single: "'Failure.' is the heaviest and most severe song on Damaged Dream. It’s about how nihilism is a cognitive virus that spreads when your ideals shatter at the hands of cold reality. When you watch everyone you know suffer at various points in their lives you have to face the wreckage of your own innocence. So once that’s gone, what do you have left? Well there’s power and resilience in desperation and catharsis. For us, we’re just trying to write our way out of hell. Creating in spite of the void is its own victory."

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Heavy Halo is the duo of McKeever and producer Gosteffects. Working out of Spellsound Studios, located inside a historic, 19th-century Brooklyn hospital building, the pair meld metallic guitars, frenetic beats, and yearning vocals into industrialized alt-rock anthems for the next generation. New album Damaged Dream will be released July 25th on Silent Pendulum Records.

Revolver Magazine has praised Heavy Halo's "chunky riffs and EBM-panicked beatwork" and "nihilistic yet melodic vocals about diving headfirst into the chaos that surrounds us every day."

Post-Punk.com recently delivered this assessment of the band's sound: "Built on a backbone of industrial-techno rhythms, its serrated guitars slash through raw electronics, a collision of sweat and circuitry... a machine with a beating heart, nodding to Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM with the raw urgency of Smashing Pumpkins and the aching howl of The Cure. The ghosts of ‘90s rebellion flicker in its DNA, yet its spirit is welded to the digital age, where raw emotion fuses with cold machinery. In this, Heavy Halo also finds kinship with HEALTH and Poppy, reveling in that chaotic crossroads where flesh meets electric power."

Pre-order Damaged Dream, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/heavy-halo

Photo by Tori McGraw

PLQ MRX - "Lead Poisoning"

PLQ MRX: Unsane, Ecstatic Vision members drop acid-fried "Lead Poisoning" single and video

Head over to Decibel Magazine now to stream the new PLQ MRX track, “Lead Poisoning,” by way of a trippy music video, and read a new interview with vocalist Cleetus Alreetus Alrightus: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2025/04/01/track-premiere-plq-mrx-lead-poisoning/

From Philadelphia, PLQ MRX puts forth an extremely grimy, sludgy, acid-fried version of punk, in the spirit of Flipper, Butthole Surfers... and Funkadelic. Pounding mid-tempo drums and walls of guitars are peppered with clown samples and detuned trombones in a dizzying blast of noise rock, psychedelia, and gallows humor.

Members are rumored to hail from such bands as Swans, Unsane, Author & Punisher, and Ecstatic Vision.

New EP Cumgitsum drops April 25th on Reptilian Records (US), Totem Cat Records (EU), and Fuzzed and Buzzed (Canada).

Connoisseurs of the dangerous and depraved might recall a Philadelphia band known as Plaque Marks which surfaced initially in 2017, releasing one EP, Anxiety Driven Nervous Worship, and touring the US with Unsane. Stereogum's review of that EP described it as "primitive and feral... smashed-to-shit vocal distortion, gravel-throated bass tone and a couple guitars that sound like they're being picked with glass shards." Like a crazed phoenix rising from those ashes, PLQ MRX picks up where Plaque Marks left off. Amidst the current noise rock boom, exemplified by the ongoing success of Chat Pile and festivals such as Caterwaul, PLQ MRX puts forth a spectacle that pushes the genre into a more theatrical and psychedelic realm.

Pre-order the EP, here:
US: https://reptilianrecords.bandcamp.com/
EU: https://totemcatrecords.bigcartel.com/
Canada: https://fuzzedandbuzzed.com/

Photos by Gene Smirnov