L.S. Dunes - Violet

It’s little surprise, really, that L.S. Dunes - a band born during the uncertainty and chaos of the pandemic - would end up making a debut preoccupied with a dark sense of cynicism. With its successor, however, the band - or supergroup, if you will, boasting members of My Chemical Romance, Circa Survive and Thursday, to name a few - have approached things with a lighter but still profound touch. Instead deciding to focus on the “magic in the world”, their second record ‘Violet’ arrives as a more majestic (if still shadowy) offering that showcases their growth and evolution as an outfit perfectly.

Led by the unmistakable vocals of Anthony Green - whose voice has helped define the sound of post-hardcore for well over two decades - there’s a mesmeric quality to the likes of ‘Fatal Deluxe’ and the album’s title track, which darts between the serene and scorched, while ‘Machines’ sees the band even lean towards Strokes-ish guitar lines, eschewing genre boundaries in favour of experimentation. Even the revenge-laden ‘You Deserve To Be Haunted’ still manages to feel euphoric in its crescendo, despite its morbid moniker. It’s the album’s closer ‘Forgiveness’ that cuts deepest though, its soaring chorus packing an intense punch, and concluding what is a fresh, vital take on what post-hardcore can sound like in 2025.