Scowl - Are We All Angels 

Much like a certain infamous condiment, we imagine that the new album from Californian hardcore outfit Scowl is likely to stir up some fairly extreme opinions. While the Santa Cruz quintet firmly put their stamp on the genre with their 2021 debut ‘How Flowers Grow’ - an album that saw them hailed as one of hardcore’s great new hopes - it’s with their second release (and first for new label home, Dead Oceans) that they’ve pushed decidedly out of hardcore’s traditional constraints, instead adding scuzzy textures and pop melodies to their already fierce melding pot. Like the much-touted Turnstile before them, ‘Are We All Angels’ is a record that sees the band choosing to pair pummelling guitars and ferocious riffs with a sense of levity; this time, mostly down to the singing of vocalist Kat Moss, which, in moments - as on opener ‘Special’ - feels closer to the early work of Sleigh Bells or Purity Ring than their current counterparts. The result is an album that feels expansive and unshackled, while still boasting a gnarly punk heart. Love it or hate it, one thing’s clear here: this band’s ambitions are soaring skyward.