Considering how aggressive hardcore music is, and how much the spirit of it is about personal freedom, it’s sometimes surprising to see how hyper-sensitive and judgmental the scene can be. The bruising Northern California quintet Scowl were always different — and not only because they have a female singer, Kat Moss, who isn’t afraid to dress glam when she wants to.
Yet as they’re evolving their sound from the tight boundaries of hardcore into something more melodic and refined, they’re getting cries of “sellout” from more puritan corners, exacerbated by their move to a larger indie label (Dead Oceans) and collaborations with brands like Converse and Taco Bell (which is even more ironic, considering that they’ve pulled out of festivals that were sponsored by the U.S. Army and Barclays for political-leaning reasons). And, of course, the slower and more melodic material they’ve been releasing.
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“Are We All Angels” continues in the vein of their 2023 “Psychic Dance Routine” EP, with multiple rock styles ranging from anthemic melodic rock to pop-punk to, yes, two hardcore-leaning songs, the bruising “B.A.B.E.” and the crushing closing title track, which rank with their all-time most aggressive material. But the main focus here is on the songwriting, with Moss shifting between a haunting alto, TK and her trademark demon shriek, and it’s not as if the band has dropped one style for another — instead, you’ll get several in a single song. Production from Will Yip (who’s also helmed recent recordings by Turnstile and Mannequin Pussy) and a mix from Rich Costey (My Chemical Romance, Fiona Apple, Interpol) give the sound a clean but powerful punch. But like all of Scowl’s material, we expect the new songs to find their true definition in a live setting.
