Crust is one of those genre descriptors that makes zero sense to me, yet it simultaneously makes all the sense in the world once you actually hear the music with your own ears. Similar to how ‘crunch’ is used to describe guitar tone with distortion/high gain (which also applies here), that term doesn’t help at all in describing sound when I sit and overthink it. But when I engage my brain into smooth mode, I can’t think of any other descriptor better than crunch (or crust) to explain what is unfolding in your ears. Once you get so much crunch, you find yourself being crusty. Now the real question is what exists out there that goes beyond crust (this being the closest thing I can think of).
Whilst I have you thinking about crust and other non-musically informing (sub)genre descriptors that paradoxically make perfect sense, Everything Is Noise is here with an advance premiere of the newest single from the Italian quartet, If I Die Today. “Light” is the second single being released in anticipation of their newest album, I Felt Nothing, to be released on June 19 in co-production with Tifone Crew, Vollmer, Flamesdontjudge, Shove Records, Poison Hearts, Oltraggio Produzioni, and Masseria Autogestita. Full disclosure that this band is one that I haven’t listened to in a very long time. As I look back through their catalogue to see the albums they’ve put out, I am immediately struck by the artwork for 2011’s Liars, which has that late 00’s MySpace-era aesthetic that is very much a product of its time. It only stood out to me because I most definitely have seen that artwork before and listened to that album at some point, but that was a time in which my music taste was far from where it is today, and thus I never revisited it. Now, their music (and artistic visual aesthetic since Liars) is something that aligns more with my taste and I am grateful for this serendipitous opportunity to rediscover a band that I had once naively wrote off and likely wouldn’t have revisited otherwise. Anyways, below you’ll find some insight from the band on I Felt Nothing:
‘I Felt Nothing is a process of revelation told through 11 chapters. Each song unveils a fragment of the darkness gradually engulfing both the world and humanity. There is no hope — only the awareness that everything is now lost, and that we too, whether we like it or not, are part of the problem. I Felt Nothing represents both a significant break from the past and a natural continuation of the sound we began exploring with Cursed and The Abyss In Silence.‘
You better make sure you have your seatbelt on prior to pressing play on “Light”, as it takes off fast. Its savage ferociousness immediately reminds me of Converge and Zao, with the melodic break halfway through the track especially sounding as if Kurt Ballou himself was behind the riffs and instrumentation with the discordantly melodic Southern-esque guitar leads. This song just knocks your socks off with how short and bitter (as opposed to sweet as this song is anything but that) it is in its brief two minute duration. The intensity and execution that If I Die Today are going for is just so well executed and distilled in such a tight package. If you somehow weren’t already sold, just know that it was mastered by the legendary Will Putney, so that alone tells you all that you need to know.
‘“Light” is about a dream of happiness that, upon waking, turns into the urge to see everything destroyed — because all that love and warmth once imagined simply no longer exist. When the veils fall and the whole truth comes to the surface, you find yourself standing in front of a mirror, realizing that you are an integral part of the problem.’
If you like your tunes crusty, If I Die Today are going to be right up your alley, so make sure you check out I Felt Nothing when it drops on June 19; I know I most certainly am. With Converge releasing two albums this year, we are indeed feasting, so I Felt Nothing is going to be icing on the metallic hardcore cake. Hit up their socials (Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram) to stay up to date on all things If I Die Today.
