Photo by John Jr.

The landscape of hardcore has done its best to catch up to the cross-sections which Gouge Away created on their 2018 sophomore breakthrough, Burnt Sugar. Much of the grungy riff rough that rumbled throughout that listen has become commonplace in the bands who’ve risen within the scene since, solidifying the Floridian five-piece’s influence with a permanence to it. Five years later, they’re challenging hardcore’s method once again with the standalone single, “Idealized”. It’s fitting that the listen arrives within the same timeline as that of the triumphant return of the enigmatic post-hardcore forebears Unwound, as Gouge Away similarly bend wrists and twist heads with a more calculating pace of quiet-loud dynamics that only embolden the intentions behind every word stated or shouted by vocalist Christina Michelle. “Don’t wanna go through life / Seeking validation / From a stranger or a neighbor or an institution,” she sings. “Before you form your picket lines / Look within your picket fences / Your fantasy was never something I needed to live with.” Unapologetic, and certain of it, Gouge Away are always on their own path.

Gouge Away’s “Idealized” single is available on Deathwish Inc.