Few new bands have captured the zeitgeist of the 2020s like . The Oklahoma City-based four-piece have a singular knack for expressing the anxieties of the modern world, rendering them in humanistic and exhilarating fashion. Their surprisingly accessible blend of noise rock/sludge metal began life, via two great 2019 EPs, as a rather more misanthropic beast. However, by the time of their astonishing 2022 debut full-length ‘God’s Country’, ’s vision was revealed to be one of deep, staring-into-the-void compassion, rather than cheap nihilism. The album’s raw portrayals of homelessness, drug addiction and mass murder functioned as an incredibly direct and visceral assault; a genuinely hard-hitting listen. On its 2024 follow-up ‘Cool World’, the band went a bit more philosophical. Their vantage point remained harrowing, but it was primarily based up in the climate change damaged-clouds rather than the blood-splattering earth. 

The worldview of their third solo album (not counting last year’s strange, dreamy collaboration with ) finds a middle ground between ’s first two albums. Frontman Raygun Busch (the members all use pseudonyms) uses ‘Who Loves The Sun’ to imagine a world stuck in a doom loop, from personal struggles to apocalyptic near futures. Opener ‘Creature’ is a direct attack on those exacerbating climate change, envisaging “cities underwater” and reminding us not to “let them hide”. On the other end of the scale is the character-driven ‘Intruder’, which is thrillingly spooky: “living under your bed now/knife inside your sleeping mouth”. A key recurring theme is the psychological damage inflicted on us by the tiny minority that are destroying the planet. ‘Christabel ‘26’ brings this idea to life in sensational fashion. The lyrics use body-swap horror imagery (“they replaced our friends”, “they’re counting on your fear”) as a sharp metaphor for the tech oligarchs and culture war politicians tearing us apart at the seams.

To drill these startling visions home, have come up with some of their strongest, most varied and straight-up heaviest songwriting to date. To the latter point; ‘PEN I S MALL’ feels like the band sat down and decided to write their most punishing track to date, while the hypnotic dirge of ‘Christabel ‘26’ is one of the band’s most doom-y tracks; a slow-motion hammer blow to the skull. However, it’s a host of melodic ideas that send these 10 tracks deep into your soul. The verse of ‘Intruder’ utilises creative, spidery guitar leads, while the chorus’ guest vocals (’s Claire Hannah and Brittany Sawtelle) are soaringly anthemic. Then there’s the lo-fi acoustic guitars of closer ‘October All The Time’, which feel like trudging through a rainy, gnostic landscape, batting away ghosts of the past but also of futures we can only hope will not come to pass.

‘Who Loves The Sun’ is an extraordinary record; a layered portrait of a world sleepwalking into disaster that is somehow gripping and even fun, in a mosh-the-pain-away manner. have turned into one of contemporary music’s key chroniclers of modern woes and their latest effort not only holds these problems up to a harsh light, if you tune in to their soulful undercurrent, it also offers some directions away from all this mayhem too.

9/10