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ALBUM Responses to Trauma // ARTIST Post Truth
Unpacking and traversing trauma in all its gory glory, Newcastle quartet Post Truth offer a thunderous take on the hardcore trope with their upcoming album Responses To Trauma due out this week via Resist Records.
A band bolstered firmly on over two decades of friendship and a lust for heavy tunes, Post Truth bring a heady cocktail of hardcore punk and sludgy metal to the table. A dark and daring experience, Post Truth have continued to sharpen their heaving musical claws since their self-titled EP first found its way into the world via Bandcamp in 2017, signing on with Resist Records along the way and ultimately now sitting poised on the release of a booming album: enter, Responses to Trauma.
Opening with a maelstrom of doom-laced elegance, Drowning In Thunder kicks off Responses to Trauma with sharp drums, crashing soundscapes and droning guitars beneath vocalist Chris Buttery's bellicose vocals. Offering an oscillating take on the usual sludge metal fare, Drowning In Thunder may rattle the senses on a surface level, but as you sink fully into the narrative matter of asylum seekers meeting an untimely end at sea, the embodiment of trauma manifests beyond the noise, ultimately finding empathy amongst cacophony; a fact which remains throughout the entire album.
As Responses to Trauma traverses a gamut of grim realities faced in the modern world, from oppression to climate change, the weight of Post Truth's blackened tones swings like a sledgehammer through wet cardboard. But in place of alienation and overly preachy thematics is a finely-balanced blend of glowering brutality and engaging shifts. From the woozy fluctuations (Holy Silence) to shuttering grooves (The Slowest March), impassioned simplicity (Crisis Actor's Last Scene) and snarling bedlam (Dirt Under My Nails), Post Truth flex their range and ability to sprinkle subtle elements of crunchy psych, raging alt rock and blistering metal against their broader heavy hardcore coating.
A band born out of upheaval and significant pedigree in the punk and hardcore realms, Post Truth are more than adequately equipped to lead the way through a sweltering exposition into trauma and its harrowing repercussions. And while Responses to Trauma indeed presents as a reflection to a wide array of traumatic realities (and its darker relative "Trauma" with a capital T), the album also ultimately acts as a didactic trek, experiencing and purging brutal emotions in an immersive and impervious sonic safe space. Fans who prefer their metal on the sludgy side won't need any convincing to join Post Truth on their latest chapter; but amid the doom and gloom is a complex and compelling exploration for those game to step somewhat outside their comfort zone and embrace some darker layers in their sonic repertoire. Responses to Trauma is a gripping endeavour from an Aussie band unafraid to confront and enamour, and a confident addition to the ever-growing Post Truth journey.
POST TRUTH'S BRAND NEW ALBUM RESPONSES TO TRAUMA IS DUE OUT THIS FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 VIA RESIST RECORDS. FOR PRE-ORDERS AND PRE-SAVES, HEAD HERE.
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BY TIANA SPETER