Cheap Thrills - June 2022
This week: dream pop, garage punk, experimental black metal, and more!
Welcome to the June installment of Cheap Thrills, the column about "name your price" releases that deserve your attention. All albums, EPs, and demos covered in this series are technically available for free, but listeners are encouraged to spend whatever they are comfortable with spending, whether that be $0, $5, $10, or more.
There's also a bit of exciting news to share! Later this month, I will be writing a hardcore/metal focused version of this column for Invisible Oranges. The version hosted here will be shorter and will focus on non metal releases or anything that doesn't make the cut over on IO. I'll make sure to include a link to the Invisible Oranges column as well.
Onward to the jams!
Men I Trust - Untourable Album
As I'm writing this (author's note: June 11), the view outside my window is uniformly drab and grey. It's about to rain, and I don't feel like going anywhere today. Also, since I've just returned from the Decibel Beer and Metal Fest in Philadelphia, my lower back and neck are in ruins after Voivod and Candlemass rocked my everlovin' world. It's a perfect day to listen to Men I Trust, a Quebec trio who specialize in hazy, chilled out pop that soothes the soul. Untourable Album is both calming and whimsical with its gently warbling synthesizers, funky bass lines, and playful, laid-back vocals. Despite the album's title, the band was finally able to tour for this album in 2022, so it looks like things are looking up! I even feel a bit better after listening to the album (and writing this description).
Lysol - Soup for My Family
Now, if you're not in the mood to be soothed, then perhaps Lysol's debut album will be more your speed. Soup for My Family was released on the same label as Romero's Turn it On!, which I covered a few months ago (and has become one of my favorite albums of the year). As the band's highly combustible namesake implies, this album is potent little firecracker -- a rip-roaring garage punk romp loaded with tons of driving rhythms and jangly guitar hooks to get you moving. The whole package exudes confidence - cockiness, even - but what's punk without a healthy dose of attitude?
Chat Pile - Remove Your Skin, Please
At first, I had this band confused with The Chats, which is another band entirely. The Chats are fun and all, but Oklahoma City's Chat Pile is way more my speed. Imagine Swans, The Jesus Lizard, and Nirvana getting lost in a toxic waste dump. Now imagine what might shamble out on the other side. That's a rough approximation of Chat Pile's highly caustic sludge/noise rock combo and a good sign of the type of abuse that you're about to endure. The vocalist puts on one of the most uniquely unhinged performances in recent memory, mumbling, growling, yelping, and howling like a belligerent drunk. Not to be outdone, the guitars and drums create decrepit, crumbling soundscapes that convey the ecological, geological, and socioeconomic devastation found in their home state. On a track like "Mask", which sounds 90's grunge song recorded by feral ghouls, every lyric and instrument seethes with despair and resentment that threatens to burst right through the speakers and grab you by the throat.
Chat Pile's full-length debut is coming out soon on The Flenser, and from the sound of the preview tracks, it's going to be a doozy.
Bríi - Corpos Transparentes
Tomb Mold - Aperture of Body
Tomb Mold is one of my favorite modern death metal bands. I own all of their albums, most of their demos/EPs, and more of their shirts than I would care to mention. If I had to describe what makes them so appealing, it is their blend of the best that death metal has to offer ranging from the ominous murk of Incantation to the off-kilter weirdness of Finnish death metal (hell, even the occasional mid-paced Bolt Thrower riff or two). They have a habit of recording brief demos of upcoming album tracks, so if The Bottomless Perdition, Cryptic Transmissions, and Cerulean Salvation are any indicators, than the next Tomb Mold album will continue the band's streak of expertly crafted death metal. Aperture of Body is the most polished demo of the bunch, and fans will recognize the aforementioned trademarks as well as some new developments. One standout moment is the gorgeous final third on "Prestige of Rebirth", which reminds me of Paul Masvidal's work with Death and Cynic as well as Tomb Mold guitarist Derrick Vela's project doomier and proggier project Dream Unending. It's one small step for Tomb Mold, but perhaps we'll have some giant news coming soon.
Maȟpíya Lúta - Wóohitike
Disclaimer: the vinyl version album is apparently going to be handled by a label that releases an unfortunate amount of NSBM. Considering the subject matter here, I highly doubt that the people behind Maȟpíya Lúta are white supremacists or fascists. In any case, I just thought I should say something up front before anyone decides to spend money. These albums are "pay what you want", after all.
The real-life Maȟpíya Lúta—better known as Red Cloud—was a Lakota chief who repeatedly repelled the US Army's westward expansion. However, despite his military and political victories, he was ultimately unable to stave off the seizure of native lands and the resettlement of the Lakota and Sioux tribes. Wóohitike celebrates Red Cloud's legacy as well as the 200th anniversary of his birth with a trio of thunderous black metal compositions. The album is packed with aggressive yet triumphant riffs reminiscent of bands like Cobalt, Volahn, and Lionoka. Honestly - these are some of the catchiest guitar parts I've heard this year. And unlike most solo raw black metal, which tends to sound thin and tinny, the mix here is decently robust, to the point where there is actual audible bass guitar. Imagine that!
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That's all for this month's edition of Cheap Thrills. As a reminder, next month's entry will be shorter and more focused on non-metal releases, but I will include a link at the end to the metal edition over on Invisible Oranges.
Cheers!