Photo by Kat Nijmeddin

“They’re creative, alternative, sometimes heavy– just like Angel Du$t.” And so begins the next and arguably, best fitting, chapter for the shape-shifting Baltimore hardcore experimentalists beyond their own Pop Wig heyday, as they now enter their newly-minted Run for Cover Records era. They’re starting things off rightfully with a big bangs on the drum in two new singles for the label ahead of their next album. As has become the M.O. of Justice Tripp and company, you never really know what you’re going to get with every jump forward from the band, though 2023’s Brand New Soul hard-hinted at the crew getting back in touch with the tougher limbs of their roots.

“The Knife” and “The Beat” dig deeper into them from two different sides head-on. Consider the former as a re-introduction to what they’re capable of through a heavy melodic groove aimed straight for your cranium. “Taking back what’s mine / Step aside / Open up wide / Here the comes the knife,” Tripp steps up. The shot to the head leads to “The Beat”. Guest featuring Twitching Tongues and God’s Hate’s Taylor Young, it’s an unbridled sprint in nearly two-minutes that takes no apologies from anyone who may have dared question Angel Du$t’s heavier motivations. Put the two together, and you can take this as their way of officially putting everyone on notice.

Directed by: Blais Cepis

Angel Dust’s The Beat single is available now on Run for Cover Records.