War on Everything is a new split EP uniting two rising bands from the American music underground.
Side A features FØES, an Oregon-based outfit playing metallic hardcore with a filthy edge. They last appeared on No Echo around the time of their American Violence EP in 2020.
The two songs FØES throw down on War on Everything—“Ghost Town” and “Dog Catcher”—are straight rippers that are propelled to speedy tempos that veer into Napalm Death-like territory. "'Ghost Town' is a cynical yet all too realistic outlook on the gentrified landscape of our hometown, which isn’t unlike most other people’s stamping grounds," drummer Garrett Judkins tells No Echo.
As for "Dog Catcher," the FØES drummer says: "Dealing with settling into the grinding routine of day-to-day bullshit. Sucked into the repetition of tediousness with which many struggle to find beauty. Remembering days roaming streets with friends and staying out late like dogs in the night, howling to one another. Tearing and biting at the ties that hold us to our endless responsibilities, proclaiming there will never be peace or reprise from this weight until we all can overcome the dregs of capitalism together. This is where we will find it."
Check out War on Everything streaming below, a few days before its official release:
That brings us to Heated. The hardcore collective is based out of Stockton, California, initially founded as a solo project by guitarist Roman Gonzalez who then recruited bassist Allen Freeberg and vocalist Joey Barrows as full-time members.
Their self-titled debut EP dropped in October of 2021, thought it had been recorded in 2017 (before the full-time additions of Freeberg and Barrows). Heated then released two singles with the current lineup, “Enormous Shadows” and “Empty Maze,” that very same month. The band is currently in the process of recording their debut full-length album.
Vocalist Joey Barrows says that both “Immune Leap” and “Doom Feed” are social commentaries derived from his own experiences as well as those he's seen others express. "'Immune Leap' is an airing of my grievances towards late-stage capitalism and the work culture that has enveloped the lives of so many people I know," the Heated mouthpiece tells No Echo.
"It's also relating to the ways in which people voluntarily surveil one another for the state. It was heavily influenced by Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish, which I was reading at the time.
Joey continues: “'Doom Feed' is about the family you wish wasn't. It was written around Thanksgiving when I heard story after story from friends and coworkers alike about the unspoken dread and anxiety that hangs over a Thanksgiving dinner table. Everyone biting their tongue, swallowing their pride to exchange pleasantries with people they otherwise would never share a meal with.
The artwork, done by Dominique Makasuya, was meant to reflect the picture of the ideal nuclear family hiding several ugly truths behind their white picket fence."
War on Everything will be out digitally on May 27th via Glacier Recordings.
The 7-inch vinyl version, limited to 250 copies—125 on Blood Red w/ Black Splatter and 125 copies on Milky Clear—will see release on August 19th (pre-order).
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