REVIEW(ed):
The ever prolific NEW TODAY have returned w/ a new album titled ‘LET ME FORGET’ & it finds the criminally underrated (yet undeterred) DIY AF duo doing what they do while adding upon their proven formula.
The Detroit/Houston based project of Dante Palomba (vocals/drums) & Daniel Srungaram (guitars/bass) very much have their own thing going which I’ve endlessly covered here & will continue to do so by lazily plagiarizing myself… that being said, what New Today have done so well is create an easily recognizable template.
Said template is a minimalist delight & almost always revolves around a QUIET/LOUD dynamic along w/ some combo of driven low-ends, buzz sawing six-strings & Palomba’s voice which goes from stoically unconcerned to horsely ragged w/in a few bars. This isn’t a bug, it’s a feature & is meant as a dead ass compliment as the duo have continued to build, expand & tweak this reliable blueprint.
I will go to my sparsely visited grave cementing the fact that New Today is some bizarro “goblin mode” version of an Alice In Chains meets Love In Rockets hybrid born to reflect my personal love of crunchy 90s Alt & dourly glum post_punk.
‘Let Me Forget’ seems angrier than previous New Today releases & I’m all for it as this pent-up rage is spread in full across an even 8 tracks the seamlessly combine their love of DIY ethics & aesthetically apt tunage while finding plenty of new focus to make its way for some raw boned & deliciously danceable diatribes.
The RunDown:
Proof of this new balancing act can be found on “Hatefuck,” the moody opener which throws some danceable DarkWave into the mix while the title-track brings that tried & true New Today formula back into the fold w/ another raw blast of meaty post_punk w/ an added dose of eerie synth.
The compressed “God & Man” is all death_rocking fury meets caustic NIN fuckery while “Caliber” brings a minimalist mash of eerie Electro meets buzzing GloomRawk chockfull of running guitars & “Volatile” vamps across 2 mins of Cramps-esque bravado.
“Cycle of Madness” kicks off the final third w/ another solid set of grungy results while the one-two closing punch of “Crown” & “Chamber” go out w/ a bang… the former w/all the Alt_rawking angst & layers it upon a bed of bedrocked low-ends & the latter’s industrial-esque Alice In Chains-ing.
The rate at which New Today have been pumping out material the past few years has been potently impressive & if you’ve yet to latch onto their brand of gloomy goodness, ‘Let Me Forget’ is easily your best bet as a properly accessible introduction.
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