On This Track: Midweek Listening #5
- Anne
- Aug 12
- 4 min read
Four new releases moving from theatrical metal and art rock to alternative guitars, folk-punk and uncompromising hardcore.
Four songs. Four completely different moods. This week's On This Track Midweek Listening 5 moves from fantasy-fuelled metal and theatrical art rock to expansive alternative guitars and folk-punk chaos. There's plenty of noise here, but each artist uses it differently - sometimes to build a world, sometimes to work through something personal and sometimes just to hit as hard as possible.
Castle Rat - “Dragon”
The video for “Dragon” makes it pretty clear that Castle Rat aren't interested in being just another metal band. There are costumes, characters, a fantasy world and enough theatrical detail to make the whole thing feel like it belongs to something much bigger than a single song. Musically, though, the track doesn't need all of that to work. The riffs are heavy and direct, with the kind of doom-metal weight that gives the song its foundation while the vocals keep it moving. There's a strong sense of melody underneath all the fuzz and distortion, which makes “Dragon” surprisingly easy to get stuck in your head.
What I like about Castle Rat is that they take the fantasy element seriously without making the music feel like a costume. “Dragon” sounds like a band that knows exactly what world it wants to build and has decided to go all the way with it. The video is simply another part of that world.
🎧 Stream “Dragon” on Apple Music
Anxious - “Don’t Move”
The bridge comes first, and you can feel it. “Don’t Move” doesn't rush towards its biggest moment. The guitars slowly build around Grady Allen's voice until the song opens up and suddenly the whole thing feels much bigger than where it started. The interesting part is what sits underneath all that. Allen wrote the song about a relationship that defined his early twenties falling apart and about trying to get it back even when he already knew something had changed. There's a kind of tension in that idea: wanting to move forward while doing everything possible to stay in the same place. That comes through in the music. Anxious bring the weight of hardcore and emo into something much more expansive, with layered guitars and huge melodies giving the song a bittersweet quality. It can sound almost triumphant for a moment, then the lyrics pull you back. “Don't Move” feels like a song caught between two decisions. You know something isn't working. You just aren't ready to accept it yet.
🎧 Stream “Don’t Move” on Apple Music
Doom Scroll - “The Ravine”
I don't think you could make up the story behind “The Ravine”. A broken-down van, a dead body, a friend falling into a ravine, flooded equipment, a smashed window and a family emergency would be enough bad luck for most bands. Doom Scroll somehow turned all of it into a punk song. That could have made the track feel like a joke, but it doesn't. There's real frustration underneath the energy and the folk-punk foundation gives the song plenty of room for both. The stop-motion video adds another layer to the whole thing, making the band's run of disasters feel even more surreal. What I like most is that “The Ravine” isn't really about bad luck. It's about what happened afterwards. Doom Scroll could have folded under all of this, but instead the experience brought the band closer together. Sometimes the best response to a terrible run of events is simply to keep going.
🎧 Stream “The Ravine” on Apple Music
Pain Of Truth - “STRANDED”
“STRANDED” doesn't really ease you into anything. The drums hit hard, the riffs keep pushing forward and the vocals sound like they're coming from somewhere very close to the edge.
Pain Of Truth have always had that direct hardcore energy, but there's something particularly relentless about this track. The breakdowns don't feel like pauses between the action. They feel like the whole song is built around them, with the guitars and drums constantly pushing towards the next impact. The lyrics deal with division, struggle and resistance, which fits the music without needing to spell everything out. There's no attempt to make the anger sound polished. It feels physical, immediate and made for a room where the crowd isn't standing still. “STRANDED” is the latest glimpse of the band's self-titled sophomore album and if this track is anything to go by, Pain Of Truth aren't planning on making it a quiet one.
🎧 Stream “STRANDED” on Apple Music
Four songs, four very different ways of making noise. Some build strange worlds, some turn difficult experiences into music, and some simply refuse to hold back. That's what I like about Midweek Listening: you can never quite predict what the next song is going to sound like. We'll be back with more releases worth discovering.
Continue discovering independent music through On This Track, Three Track Week and Artist Features. Read more about new music, indie artists and alternative music on INDIENOXZINE.
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