California has brought us much of the great punk music that has become a staple of the sound today. This next group out of Northern California, Slow Bloom, released their debut EP on January 26 on No Sleep Records in advance of their upcoming full-length album. The four-piece combines the viscerality of post-punk and the alternative sensibilities of ’90s grunge capturing a wild energy that feels raging and aggressively fresh.
Slow Bloom Debut Sound with Hex Hex Hex
A solid EP all the way through, Hex Hex Hex shows you the Slow Bloom sound across five tracks. Each track is harder than the last. Starting off at “Neon Sequitor” and ending at the title track “Hex Hex Hex,” the logical progression of sound makes the EP easy to digest.
“Neon Sequitor” is the perfect opening. With long winded distorted guitar echoing through your ears, slowly building up to the true opening of the track, it captures your ear making you want to listen to the EP in its entirety. Over the angsty screamed lyrics, you’re entranced even further with the melodic, scalar melody.
“Immaculate” and “Sarcaphaguts” are both shorter tracks, but they both still pack a big punch. Heavy and loud all the way through, you don’t realize both tracks can get louder and heavier, but they still build.
Title track “Hex Hex Hex” captures everything that Slow Bloom built up in the four tracks leading up to this point. The drumming is reminiscent of something you’d play along with on Rock Band. It’s simple yet adds a much-needed layer of high cymbals, pounding toms, and packs a punch with its bass drum. Vocally, you can hear the ’90s grunge influence, almost as if Kurt Cobain mixed himself up in the surf-punk California scene in his spare time between working on Nirvana tracks.
Formed in early 2014, a collaboration between members of State Faults and Strike To Survive, Slow Bloom finds their sound reminiscent of Nirvana mixed with post-punk mainstays like At The Drive In and Refused. Now working on their debut album Hex Hex Hex in early 2018 on No Sleep Records (USA) and Dog Knights Productions (UK). Featuring a more refined example of what the band is capable of, tangling their signature raw-energy and a melodic structure for their avid fans of aggressive post-punk and guitar driven emo.
