Song of the Day: Age of Apocalypse, "Mortal Coil"
Even though the way we find, consume, and think about music has been repeatedly upended, it’s mildly comforting that there are still some constants. Chart breakthroughs are still meaningful. Physical sales still count for something. Little trend pockets can still cross over and influence the mainstream. Lots of stuff about the current music world is a drag, like Kate Nash literally showing her ass so she can pay for a tour. But even I, a deeply depressed cynic, find silver linings on a lot of these clouds.
Case in point: Over the past five years or so, hardcore seems to have returned and spawned a whole bunch of local scenes and DIY venues and newfound communities and, most importantly, kickass bands. Several lifetimes of reinvention and cross-contamination have made a lot of these groups genre-agnostic, but the jackhammer rhythms and fist-like guitar assaults remain constant.
Age of Apocalypse (excellent name) is a quintet from New York who sound like they were stitched together in a mad scientist’s lab by my musical id. There’s a little bit of epic Iron Maiden thrash in there, alongside the pummeling crunch of death metal and some shoegaze-adjacent burn for good measure. Their 2022 album Grim Wisdom (another excellent name) was largely built on adrenaline, but they appear to be leveling up with their forthcoming In Oblivion. Age of Apocalypse are concerned with melody, but first In Oblivion single “Mortal Coil” is downright pretty in places. But nobody is accusing these guys of trying to cross over. They simply want to make you feel, and in that respect it’s mission accomplished. As I get older, I find it harder for songs and bands to penetrate my thick outer shell in order to move me on a visceral level, an experience that used to come quite easily. This type of stuff is a real shot in the arm, and while nothing can make me feel young again, Age of Apocalypse certainly remind me that I am alive.