We don’t know where this world is headed, but right now, it’s shaping up to be a very uneasy place to exist. If the thought of that is already leaving you feeling overcome with anxiety and whelming, then allow High Vis to be your light and your guide through the oncoming darkness. The London-centered post-punk band have become beacons in that sense tailor made for these times. Where many of their peers in the adjacent hardcore scene confront societal decay at the hands of oligarchical villains by making full use of an aggressive sound and fury, High Vis seek out the path of the life-affirming enlightenment in their working class anthem without sanding down any of the coarse edges needed to survive whatever trials may present themselves.

Guided Tour — the band’s third album and follow-up to their 2022 sophomore breakthrough, Blending — glides through them with more stealth maneuvering compared to its hardened predecessor nonetheless. The five-piece continues to converge a distinct style that mediates a post-hardcore rubble with an affliction for early Brit pop, with its tone gleaming brighter through the greyscale in the silvered shimmer of bent wave guitarwork from Martin MacNamara and Rob Hammaren. They alongside bassist Jack Muncaster and drummer Edward “Ski” Harperand are a collective vehicle of versatility, packing hooks with muscular fists full of rock when drudging through heavier political overcasts and depressive emotional states while pushing off the weight to make way for self-manifested wins over them.

The duality is symbiotic, presented as both a song for rebellion and championing of the voiceless under the infinite echo shout-alongs trailing off Graham Sayles’ sandpaper tongue. Even venturing into unchartered paths where High Vis’ encounter a challenge unseen before, like the garage and house influence thumping a busied brain on “Mind’s A Lie”, they’ve a solve to the strife. What awaits around the corner? We won’t always know for sure, but these punks sound more ready than ever to face it head-on.

Highlights: “Guided Tour”, “Fill the Gap”, “Mind’s a Lie”

High Vis’ Guided Tour is available now on Dais Records.

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