Punk and hip-hop were bedmates at birth. While we can place the protozoan strains of each to various global traditions, it was in the boroughs of New York that both achieved nuclear fusion, bursting out of a shared street-level creative urge and even routinely sharing the stage together at venues like CBGB before either could fill a venue by their lonesome. Philadelphia hardcore act Soul Glo’s “February Theory” reads like a history lesson of that time period, where ideas were free-flowing and musicians too, with so many punk and very early hardcore groups integrating rapped vocals as much as rap groups were sharpening a punky edge and volatility. Lord knows I love some experimental and avant-garde work, but there is a sublime beauty to encountering a group that just gets it and executes it with aplomb.
The first four minutes of this cut are perfect hardcore, managing to stretch out a song in a genre known for priding itself on sub-2 minute bangers without ever feeling like it’s losing energy. The hip-hop backend explodes out as a righteous coda, the perfect kind of juxtaposition that hardly feels like one at all. There is an incredible use of emotional logic here, using the constant tension of the hardcore to when you get to that deep pocket rap groove, it feels absolutely euphoric.
As the lead single and opening track to their upcoming album, NA I’M GON GRAB ALLAT, it sets the stage perfectly for a record that you can bet your bottom dollar will be appearing on year-end lists across rock and punk spaces.
Honorable Mentions
Mötley Crüe – “Nobody Knows What It’s Like to Be Lonely”
Those in the know in the metal underground will always rep those early few Crüe records. They always had glam rock mixed in, but before their identity solidified as a party-time metal group, they had real edge to them, using occult imagery and riffs mixing Sabbath and Priest together into the kind of love songs that feel like they’re sung by strung-out knife-wielding coke addicts. “Nobody Knows What It’s Like to Be Lonely” masquerades lyrically as a Motown style lost love type tune. The music however switches back and forth between pure Sabbath worship in the verses before launching into a Judas Priest-indebted chorus. This song never left the demo stage before they cut their very first record in 1981, but it offers a tantalizing glimpse at a far darker band we might have gotten and is a must for any lover of heavy music.
Slipknot – “Arsenal”
When Slipknot used the guise of a creative change to justify the firing and replacement of a huge swath of their band, the world was incredulous. It was obvious that there was something else to the swap, one cloaked in understandable professional language. But when you say it’s over creative directions, you put yourself on a hook to deliver. Slipknot did. After some of the inscrutable experiments following 2019’s superb We Are Not Your Kind, Slipknot have returned with a Mr. Bungle style hybrid of approaches, including an Arabic scale lick in a guitar solo, an almost country and Western twang in the chorus set to Eloy Casagrande’s absolutely roiling drums, a total band breakdown, and a closing doomy grinder of a riff. The thing that makes Slipknot consistently so interesting is they know what they could crank out, what would make easy money, and they never go that route. Most bands this size become terrified of following the artistic impulse if it breaks their brand, a noxious notion. Slipknot have not ever been afraid.
Steven Wilson – “Requiem for a Village”
Those who follow Steven Wilson’s career know that there are many facets to his music. This time, it’s a King Crimson-worshipping mutant groove, roughly eight minutes of shifting beats, riffs, pocket bass lines and radiation sickness analog synthesizer worship. It’s at once an astounding display of musicianship and a perfect example of how a righteous focus on propulsive power can let you get away with some of the most hare-brained musical turns imaginable. Prog is at its most exciting when it’s a codeword for unpredictability and the chops to pull off whatever the idea is. Here, those chops are deployed to make an unbelievably sick jam, just the way the dark god of rock ‘n’ roll requests.
In conclusion, this week’s Heavy Song of the Week highlights the new single “February Theory” from Soul Glo, a perfect blend of hardcore and hip-hop that sets the stage for their upcoming album NA I’M GON GRAB ALLAT. The honorable mentions include Mötley Crüe’s “Nobody Knows What It’s Like to Be Lonely”, Slipknot’s “Arsenal”, and Steven Wilson’s “Requiem for a Village”, all showcasing the diversity and creativity in the world of heavy music.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte, widely regarded as the “Shakespeare of Sh*tposts,” is a video game expert with a unique knack for turning pixels into punchlines.
Born in the small town of Respawn, Pennsylvania, Pixel grew up mashing buttons on an ancient NES controller, firmly believing that “blowing into the cartridge” was a sacred ritual passed down through generations.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte: proving that life, much like a buggy open-world game, is better with a little lag-induced chaos.
