BRAND NEW SOUL is Angel Du$t’s way of just letting the narrative go and doing their own thing. People are always going to bring up Turnstile’s name and the kindred band’s breakthrough success whenever they talk about them. They’re going to make a big ado about how the Baltimore band transitioned from very aggressive hardcore-punk to power-pop upon joining Roadrunner Records over the course of their previous two efforts, 2010’s Pretty Buff and 2021’s YAK: A Collection of Truck Songs. The ghost of Justice Tripp’s much more heavier and cult adored hardcore band, Trapped Under Ice, will forever loom over his artistic journey on hardcore subreddits no matter what he does.

Now flying free and back at their independent home base of Pop Wig, Tripp and company aren’t sweating the discourse floating around them on their fifth studio effort. If anything, they’re embracing the chance to get weirder and freakier for it. Tracks like “Race Car” and “Born 2 Run” get very psychedelic on this go with organic instrumentation and an assist from labelmate (and creator of one of this year’s best debuts) Mary Jane Dunphe that spirits an expanding brain of the limitless nature of what hardcore and its community music can be, whereas “Love Slam”, “Space Jam” and “Sippin’ Lysol” rekindles their purpose in the pit with a return to very aggressive ferality (there’s also a song literally entitled “Very Aggressive”.)

Be it their embrace of indie rock, pop, or trying on new alien vibes atop of it, Angel Du$t does it all with purpose no matter which shape they transcend. It’s beyond defining or outside any point on the historical timeline. Truly, this is the sound of the band’s creative soul being set free.

Angel Du$t’s BRAND NEW SOUL will be released September 9th on Pop Wig.

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