The Sound of Standing Tall: Greater Than Human - Downfall (Track Review) Released: 6/27/25

Hailing from Ladysmith, Wisconsin, Greater Than Human has been making noise in the Northwoods rock scene since August 2023, and their single Downfall makes a strong case for why this band of lifelong friends deserves attention well beyond their local stomping grounds. Downfall is a hard-hitting rock/metal track that tackles a universally relatable theme, standing firm against someone who thrives on tearing others down. The song builds around a protagonist who refuses to be diminished, pushing back against arrogance and ego with a defiant, grounded confidence. It's the kind of anthem that hits differently when you've dealt with someone who mistakes cruelty for strength.

Musically, the track carries the DNA of the band's influences, which span the golden eras of rock and metal from the '80s through the 2000s. The guitar work from cousins Christian and Brady Polak anchors the track with a satisfying crunch, while Austin Evans' drumwork drives the energy forward with purpose. Zander Noble's bass rounds out the low end and gives the song its backbone. Christian's lead vocals carry real conviction; you believe every word, and the layered background vocals add a fuller, more anthemic dimension to the chorus. Speaking of the chorus, it's the clear high point of the song. It's punchy, memorable, and built to be sung loud. The central hook lands with the kind of simplicity that great rock choruses are made of, the sort of line that sticks in your head long after the song ends. For a band still in its early years, Downfall shows impressive songwriting maturity. Greater Than Human isn't just a cover band with a few originals thrown in; this track suggests they have a genuine voice of their own. If this is the direction they're heading, the Northwoods rock scene has a lot to look forward to.

Downfall is worth your time. Give it a listen and see for yourself what this Ladysmith crew is capable of:

Go give them a follow on Instagram: Greater Than Human

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Kentucky's Heavy Secret: Stormtoker - These Edibles Ain't Shit (EP Review) Released: 12/5/25

Lexington, Kentucky, isn't exactly the first city that comes to mind when you think of the sludge and stoner metal underground, but Stormtoker seems intent on changing that. Their EP These Edibles Ain't Shit arrives like a slow, crushing wave of amplifier worship and chemically-assisted existential dread, and it makes a compelling case that the Bluegrass State has something mean and heavy brewing beneath its surface. Stormtoker is a fierce, impassioned force of nature, a band that feels like devout disciples of Ozzy Osbourne who came of age at the turn of the millennium but refused to let the roots of heavy metal die. With sonic DNA tracing back to Cream, Hendrix, King Crimson, and even Arthur Brown, they summon an alluring sound that entrances as much as it pummels. This is a band equally at home in the sludge pit and the alt-rock headspace, a melodic restlessness running beneath the downtuned grime that keeps things unpredictable and owing as much to the 90s alternative u...

A Bonfire Built for Burning Down Egos: Saving Vice - Straw Dogs (Track Review) Released: 10/4/25

Saving Vice is the embodiment of metalcore excellence and a powerhouse rising out of New England, specifically Burlington, Vermont, and they've never been afraid to get confrontational, but “Straw Dogs” is the band at their most venomous, theatrical, and unapologetically hostile. Consisting of Tyler Small, Robbie Litchfield, Alex Chan, and Sam Willey, the band channels pure contempt into a track that feels like a ritual execution set to music. If Saving Vice’s catalog is a gallery of emotional extremes, “Straw Dogs” is the piece where the frame catches fire. This song in particular revolves around a single yet brutal idea: some people are built of nothing but dry straw, and all it takes is a spark to expose how hollow they really are. The narrator tears into a target who poses as powerful but collapses under scrutiny, and this is someone loud, insecure, and inflated by their own myth. The imagery is vicious: boiling blood, collapsing thrones, paper crowns, inbred worms, a few co...

Baptized in Hatred that Draws First Blood: LYCVNS - TEETH feat. Carlos Guzman of Feels Like Karma (Track Review) Released: 4/5/26

Some songs ease you in, and then some songs grab you by the throat before you even realize what's happening. "TEETH" by LYCVNS is firmly the latter. From the very first line: I'll make you fucking swallow teeth, this track makes its intentions crystal clear, and it never once blinks, never once softens, never once apologizes for what it is. This is heavy music made by people who aren't playing a character. This is the real thing. LYCVNS arrives with a lineup that feels assembled with a specific kind of violence in mind. Erin Medrano (Fallen Condition) leads on vocals, and what immediately separates him from the pack is that nothing about his delivery feels performed. There's no posturing here, no calculated aggression for the sake of fitting a mold. Every line he delivers sounds like it's coming from somewhere genuine and unresolved, like he's pulling these words out of something he's been carrying for a long time. That authenticity is rare...

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