Last Updated on June 28, 2022, 9:33 PM | Published: June 28, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) – Between the restless, impatient energy of more than two years now dealing with a global pandemic and the erupting anger over egregious judicial decisions and political scandals both local and federal, it’s safe to say that the time for some heavy, unbridled rock music is nigh.
Fortunately, our city’s hard rock cup runneth over, with a recent flood of content from bands old and new, upstart and acclaimed alike.
And three of the coolest, hardest-hitting bands on the scene have just recently dropped singles ahead of their hotly anticipated full album releases.
Gonzo LeBronzo – “Icaresque”
With their first-ever performance just a month and a half before COVID shut down the city and brought the music scene to its knees, Gonzo LeBronzo never got to ride the deserving wave of buzz they were building at the time.
That’s finally set to change, however, as this high-energy, high-intensity trio kicks off the dust and readies to drop their debut full-length “Collapse Ecstatic” on July 31st, heralded by a couple of rip-roaring singles led by “Icaresque.”
The song bursts out of the gate with a blink-and-you-miss-it guitar kickoff before landing on its stuttering, syncopated leading riff and announcing the band’s sound in all its shaggy, barely contained glory.
Melodies wind around one another and keep you on your toes with little extensions of the riffs and rhythms that set it apart from easily defined or anticipated rock structures. Think Soundgarden by way of early-2000’s garage rock.
The track’s raw, minimal production adds to the clear urgency in singer/guitarist David Hanon’s voice, entering as a swirling falsetto and settling into a pleading, full-voiced yell by the choruses.
“The song uses a vague snapshot of a fictional, post-apocalyptic air battle to comment on things we currently see in the American political landscape,” Hanon said, “like creeping surveillance and policing, economic disparity, and the privileging of some at great cost to others.”
Chat Pile – “Why”
Metal/sludge/hardcore heroes Chat Pile continue to defy categorization as they gear up for next month’s release of “God’s Country,” the new full-length album that promises to put a jackhammer to the most deplorable issues of our modern age.
With the track “Why,” they’re taking aim at the housing crisis, an ongoing and ever-increasing issue in OKC, and they’re making no bones about it.
With a repeated, spoken contemplation of “why do people have to live outside?” vocalist Raygun Busch considers the waking horror of the homeless experience, from brutal heat to freezing storms, growing to a seething, confused rage at the cognitive dissonance of buildings sitting empty across the city while hundreds sleep and live on the street.
The band pounds out a crushing, hypnotic riff in 6/4 with an intermittent, angular guitar melody, all in service of outlining the disorienting and unforgiving conditions faced by the unhoused.
“Wickedness, all around us, real horror,” Busch said of the feelings behind the song’s subject matter. “I hate seeing suffering, don’t you? Why should I live in a house while someone else lives under a bridge?”
You can expect that when ‘God’s Country” drops on July 29th, Chat Pile will be offering up plenty of other such biting, unapologetic, and massively heavy observations about our city and state, especially as the album’s cover art is a simple shot of the notorious Oklahoma County jail.
Sisteria – “Hunger”
A spitting, fuzzed-out guitar riff announces “Hunger,” Sisteria’s second single from the upcoming “Dark Matter,” due out in August.
Singer Katie Williams enters in her trademark ethereal croon, as a host of other mysterious voices and atmospherics swirl around, preparing the way for a snare roll to call in the cavalry.
When the band crashes in, they arrive with a swaggering, old-school heavy metal riff so simple-yet-effective that it could have soundtracked a million basement hangouts in the 70s. But Sisteria handle the history of the genre with enough sincerity and genuine intensity that it always feels real, never like pastiche.
Fully committing to the psychedelic slant, shredding guitar solos are eschewed in favor of building walls of texture and a brilliantly anticipatory, double-time bridge recalling the most epic moments of early Black Sabbath.
The song, envisioned by Williams as an empowering anthem of female sexuality and identity, came to carry a different, unexpectedly defiant connotation as soon as it dropped.
“It was certainly a mixture of emotions, considering it was released on the same day as the news about Roe v. Wade,” she said. “My hope is that this song in particular stokes the flame inside every woman who is currently feeling disheartened by the world around her. Let it be a reminder that no one can take your spirit, and that you are not alone in the fight for justice. We are here and we are listening.”
All three of these songs are available right on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.
For news and announcements about all of their upcoming albums, follow them all on Instagram at @gonzolebronzo, @chatpileband, and @sisteriaband.
(Feature photo: Sisteria performing live (photo by Dylan Johnson)
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
