Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the top song goes to SUMAC’s “Yellow Dawn.”
Last year I witnessed SUMAC perform live as part of a local experimental music festival in my hometown of Columbia, Missouri (shout out Dismal Niche). It was the best metal set I’ve seen post-COVID — an exercise in musical chemistry that left the audience with jaws agape. And this wasn’t a metal crowd, but a smattering of music lovers and adventurous listeners of all walks of life. SUMAC had us captivated.
The band’s new single “Yellow Dawn” takes me right back to that scene. Entrancing repetition, angular post-hardcore turnarounds, crushing tones, winding arrangements that shift from controlled bludgeons to tornadic frays. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner (formerly of ISIS), bassist Brian Cook, and drummer Nick Yacyshyn have the synchronicity of a jazz ensemble, connected in a way that makes the improvisational elements of “Yellow Dawn” seem totally deliberate and written. That much of this is in fact improvised is shockingly impressive.
Honorable Mentions:
Better Lovers – “The Flowering”
“The Flowering” has been a mainstay in Better Lovers’ setlist since their first gigs, but the studio recording only surfaced this past week. Verses are structured around breakneck-speed riffs and fast tempos, which are slowed down to crushing chugs for the chorus breakdowns. Meanwhile, frontman Greg Puciato jumps between harsh howls and layered melodic cleans.
Kittie – “We Are Shadows”
Kittie’s second single since their comeback is a bit more in line with the group’s classic nu-metal era material. That’s mainly because of Morgan Lander’s highly melodic vocal delivery on this track, though groovy thrash metal riffs follows in the vein of the previous single “Eyes Wide Open.” All signs point to an impending full-length from the reunited Canadian outfit.
Knocked Loose – “Don’t Reach for Me”
If you were gonna place a futures bet on “hardcore album of the year,” Knocked Loose would certainly have some favorable odds. The two singles from their forthcoming LP are among the band’s most extreme tracks to date. Frontman Bryan Garris called the latest, “Don’t Reach to Me,” the “meanest” song he’s ever written, and it sure sounds like it. His unhinged howls cut through the mix, and the implementation of extreme metal drumming gives the track a sense of unpredictability, as blast beats morph into thrashy gallops.