Psalm Zero, Purse, An Anderson, Clan of Dyad

New York art-metal unit Psalm Zero is led by songwriter/vocalist/producer Charlie Looker, formerly of Extra Life and Zs, and a prolific collaborator of Dirty Projectors, Tyondai Braxton, Mick Barr, Glenn Branca, and many other titans of experimental music. Their sophomore LP Stranger to Violence, due out on Profound Lore in July, takes the aesthetics, poetics, and spirit established with their 2014 debut, The Drain, and blows those elements up into an epic work of wide-screen drama, a wholly unique vision of heavy music. Pummeling drum machine, lush swirling synths, razor-sharp guitar, and grinding bass  provide the dramatic backdrop for Looker’s crooning baritone voice. While Stranger to Violence retains, and in some ways even strengthens, Psalm Zero’s roots in extreme metal, these seven new songs feature massive pop hooks, soaring choruses catchier and more emotionally direct than any of the band’s prior work. With harsh vocals now less frequent and only reserved for the highest ecstatic peaks, these melody-driven songs embody an accessible song-craft seldom heard in today’s metal landscape. Stranger To Violence is a monolithic, cinematic, start-to-finish musical experience which blurs genre boundaries at every turn. As demented as it is socially relevant, this album promises to bring together fans from across multiple different scenes and orientations, and further prove that there is truly nothing out there like Psalm Zero. 

Psalm Zero will be joined by the unrestrained new wave doom of Purse, the ballistic rhythmic work-outs of An Anderson, and the aggressive, dark visions of Clan of Dyad.