Four Year Strong

When it was time for Four Year Strong to prep what would become their sixth album, analysis paralysis, they were truly, finally, stumped. Vocalist/guitarists Dan O'Connor and Alan Day showed up to producer Will Putney's studio on day one of recording without a single finished song, in stark contrast to the 40-some ideas they brought to the table for 2020's Brain Pain. The two spent those early days in a bedroom at Putney's house talking about, and listening to, music, desperate for a spark of inspiration. They found it by looking back: at what made Brain Pain a success and even the genesis of Four Year Strong as a band as they rode their trademark sound - pop-punk energy, dextrous riffage and caustic hardcore spirit - to the top of the underground in the late aughts. Within a month, they'd completed nearly 80% of the album, like the ominous, metal meets-industrial "aftermath / afterthought." They melded combustible hardcore rhythms with '90s alt-rock melodic bliss ("uncooked"), dabbled in rough-around-the-edges reggae ("out of touch") and swerved between vibe-heavy synths and thunderous breakdowns ("STFIL"). The result is an album that expands their classic sound in exciting ways - but through it all, it's unmistakably them: O'Connor and Day's distinctive vocals atop the airtight rhythm section prowess drummer Jake Massucco and bassist Joe Weiss provide. This deep into their career, there's really nothing that doesn't sound like Four Year Strong with these four involved.

Free Throw

With Piecing It Together, their fourth full-length album, Free Throw grapple with hard truths. After three albums and a decade of hard work, including countless performances worldwide, the members - Cory Castro, Lawrence Warner, Justin Castro, Jake Hughes, and Kevin Garcia - have a fresh perspective on life. The band is through obsessing over what comes next and romanticizing the moments that have already passed. Instead, Free Throw is making music about the present and how seeking balance in our lives is far more meaningful work than the endless pursuit of whatever you deem to be 'enough.'

"It's very hard when for a band like us to take time off," drummer Kevin Garcia explains. "We go home to write and record, then we go on tour. Rinse and repeat, you know? When we got into this writing process, we stopped feeling like we existed in a mold or on a path that Free Throw is supposed to keep going on with our contemporaries. We stopped worrying about what tour we may be fighting for next or what someone else does. We were just writing songs that we really like writing. "

Throughout the album's twelve tracks, Piecing It Together finds the men of Free Throw abandoning childhood notions of success and happiness through a thorough exploration of personal fulfillment. It's about reaching the heights that once felt impossible and everything that comes after. How no matter what we do or where we go, we must continue to wake up and find the strength to keep on keeping on despite everything we tell ourselves about ourselves.

Piecing It Together is an exploration of self-acceptance, and Free Throw invites everyone to join.

One Step Closer

In the year since One Step Closer released their debut full-length This Place You Know last year, they've grown into one of the most exciting new bands in modern hardcore. The album and the relentless touring schedule drew attention from the likes of Stereogum, Revolver Magazine, The FADER, BrookylnVegan, NPR, SPIN, Bandcamp Daily, FLOOD Magazine and more. OSC are showing no signs of slowing down, with Wilkes-Barre recently sharing their latest track "Dark Blue" and hitting the road relentlessly early next year as well.

One Step Closer signal a sea change with Dark Blue. On last year's This Place You Know, the band had already mastered a unique stripe of mournful melodic hardcore informed by eclectic emo influences. But on Dark Blue, they've tapped into a dynamic, emotionally powerful, and sonically intricate post-hardcore space inhabited by the charged aura and artistic nuance of landmark early 2010s records like Title Fight's Floral Green and Touché Amoré's Is Survived By. But ultimately, One Step Closer moves this sound forward into new territory.

While frontman Ryan Savitski explored clean singing on This Place You Know, he expands his vocal repertoire further here, pushing himself to an even wider range of styles and methods, from soaring highs to breathy lows and rousing harmonies. He makes for a spirited lead and consistent presence while guitar work from himself, Ross Thompson and newcomer Colman O'Brien weave sundry, compelling layers, never content to linger on one riff for too long.