Scowl - "Are We All Angels" LP

Scowl is a band that sounds exactly like their name implies. Venomous, fierce, antagonistic. A sneer not to be crossed. Over the last five years, the Santa Cruz, California, band has firmly planted their flag in the hardcore scene with their vicious sound and ripping live show, sharing stages around the world with Circle Jerks, Touché Amoré, and Limp Bizkit, and filling slots at prominent festivals like Coachella, Sick New World, and Reading and Leeds. But with their new album, Are We All Angels (Dead Oceans), Scowl is aiming to funnel all that aggression through a more expansive version of themselves.

Are We All Angels is the highly anticipated follow-up to Scowl’s debut, 2021’s How Flowers Grow, a 16-minute primal scream over punishing riffs. But amidst the pounding chaos, it was the record’s sonic outlier, a cleaner interlude called “Seeds to Sow,” that, true to its name, planted the seed for what was to come for the band. “It kind of laid out this destiny for us, and I feel like now we’re fulfilling that,” says Gilbert. The band continued to expand their sound on 2023’s widely acclaimed Psychic Dance Routine EP, incorporating more pop hooks and favoring gentler singing over heavy screaming, paving the way for what would come next.

At every turn on Are We All Angels, the band explores ambitious new directions and bends genre norms. Moss makes the most immediately noticeable evolution, dropping some of the gnarling bite of the band’s previous work in favor of a more textured and sometimes delicate approach. She flexes harmonies and melodic sensibilities that might surprise even the most dedicated Scowl fans. Moss cites a wide array of influences outside the realm of hard rock—everything from Billie Eilish to Radiohead, Car Seat Headrest to Julien Baker. “The majority of us were really not proficient musicians when this band started,” she admits. “It was very Germs-esque in that way, like baby’s first hardcore band, which is awesome. But now, we still might not know what we’re doing, but we have a better idea of what we want to do.”

Track Listing:

1. Special
2. B.A.B.E.
3. Fantasy
4. Not Hell, Not Heaven
5. Tonight (I’m Afraid)
6. Fleshed Out
7. Let You Down
8. Cellophane
9. Suffer The Fool (How High Are You?)
10. Haunted
11. Are We All Angels