Photo by Jesse DeFlorio

Between the upcoming 20th anniversary reissue (and next year’s limited reunion) by Walter Schreifels’ Aughts post-hardcore band Rival Schools and this fall’s self-titled fifth studio effort by Jim Ward’s post-At the Drive In outlet Sparta, 2022 has already served up two deserved opportunities to give proper due to the major label era of that scene’s most underrated bands. If you slept on Ward’s 2021 solo effort Daggers or the band’s 2020 return Trust the River, first singles “Mind Over Matter” and “Spiders” might come up on you as a surprise. Hearing Ward joined by guest vocalists Kayleigh Goldsworthy and Angelica Garcia respectively, he and his rotating cast of collaborators, including guitarist Michael James Adams, keyboardist Kenny Hopper, drummer – and Thursday member – Tucker Rule, venture Sparta’s trademark sound of crashing atmospheric signals through sunburnt airwaves and sweeping gothic landscapes.

Sparta’s Sparta will be released October 14th on Dine Alone Records.