Best New Releases, Nov. 1: The Cure, Mount Eerie, and more
The fall release season may be winding down, but we’re not done yet, and there’s a pretty big one out today. The Cure, after a 16-year wait, are finally releasing their new album, Songs of a Lost World. That’s a pretty big deal! But the thing is, there’s plenty more great music out this week, including the just-dropped Tyler, the Creator album, as well as the magnificent new record from Mount Eerie, which is our Album of the Week. Plus even more outstanding records to hear this week.
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The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
It’s kind of amazing that this is finally here. After 16 years (and a tour debuting many of these songs on stage), The Cure are finally releasing a new album. When we last heard from the band, they were still writing good songs but in a more radio-friendly rock mode, but here, they’ve returned to the ornate gloom that made them legends, exploring mostly longer compositions that unfold slowly and take a greater and darker journey. The album’s most immediate parallel is 2000’s Bloodflowers, which was the third of a perceived trilogy along with two of their other celebrated classics. This album could potentially be seen as the fourth, or perhaps just a new chapter altogether, albeit one that reaffirms the band’s identity as legends of gothic rock. We’ll have a whole lot more to say about this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Mount Eerie – Night Palace
Phil Elverum returns this week with his first Mount Eerie album in five years, and it’s an epic and incredible set of music, one that connects in myriad ways back to his classic Microphones album, The Glow Pt. 2. It’s our Album of the Week, and in our review, we said, “Through its 26-song, 81-minute sprawl, he finds himself newly drawn to a similar kind of mystical illumination—the lightning in the distance and the fire at his back.”
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia
Tyler, the Creator only a couple weeks ago announced new album Chromakopia, and shared the outstanding single “Noid” last week, and now his new album is out. Technically, it arrived at the beginning of the week, so there’s been a little more time to absorb this one, but it’s an expectedly eclectic and bold record that incorporates elements of psychedelia, industrial, Zam-rock samples, dreamy atmospheres and more. It’s wild. We’ll have more to say about this one soon.
Listen: Spotify
Thirdface – Ministerial Cafeteria
Nashville hardcore outfit Thirdface left a big impression with their 2021 album Do It With a Smile, a blistering set of 90-second bruisers that was one of the year’s best. Their follow-up is seemingly even more intense—explosive, chaotic, and with a bloodthirsty aggression. They more strongly incorporate elements of noise rock on Ministerial Cafeteria, as evident on standout moments like the eerie “Sour.” The group told us about their influences going into the album—read our feature!
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Tribulation – Sub Rosa In Æternum
Gothic heavy metal favorites Tribulation were one day short of releasing their new album on Halloween, but then again every day is Halloween with albums like this. Four years after the release of Where the Gloom Becomes Sound, the Swedish heavy metal group reassembles with a set of songs that lean deeper into goth-rock sounds, a deeper melodic vocal croon, and hooks galore. It’s fascinating to hear how a death metal band has evolved into becoming metal’s masters of gloom, but damn are they good at it.
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Thus Love – All Pleasure
Thus Love made their debut in our Essential Tracks roundup earlier this year with the outstanding “On the Floor,” the leadoff track from their new album All Pleasure. And now the sophomore album from the Vermont post-punk band is here, rife with moments of anthemic hooks, taut grooves, soaring choruses and a level of Scott Walker-like sophistication that transcends genre tropes. It’s an album that rewards repeat listens, but likely to win you over on the first one regardless.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
