Photo by Nat Wood

If you’re going to be doing the whole grunge-gaze thing in 2024, you better be damn sure that you’re bringing it since the scene is saturated with way too many soundalikes right now. Higher Power are originals in that sense, with their 2020 breakthrough sophomore effort, 27 Miles Underwater, being a standout and example of the form executed with precision with their heavy daze of delivering hooks and colorful pops big enough to bulk out a venue’s sound system like many of their inspos conquered during alt-rock’s and post-hardcore golden ages. Jimmy Wizard’s snotty vocals give them further identity in the swirling riff pool. A new label home in tow with the metal label, Nuclear Blast, and prodigal son in guitarist Louis Hardy rejoining the group following a temporary exit upon releasing the 2021 single, “Fall From Grace”, the Leeds quintet are back fully charged and ready to grow forward on “Absolute Bloom”. “Splinter my mind / Put it back together / Maybe this time I will get it right,” Wizard sings in its first verse. Complimented by its music video that watches his guts get surgically implanted with flowers with an electric shock for good measure, that’s as good as a descriptor of what Higher Power is on: A spiritual connection between nature and heavy rock that only grows outward around them.

Higher Power’s “Absolute Bloom” single is available now on Nuclear Blast.