- The Netherlands’ ANTILLECTUAL drop a new four song EP on Shield Recordings. Melodic punk rock with a STRIKE ANYWHERE, PROPAGANDHI slant, with creeping folk influences.

- Brand new song from their 874th full-length, “True North”, out on January 22nd. Pre-orders are up at Badreligionstore.com. Please don’t let this band ever stop doing what they are doing, I’m begging you!

• ALL THAT REMAINS – A War You Cannot Win
• WHILE SHE SLEEPS – This Is The Six
• GRAPE SODA – Form A Sign
• MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK – Making Moves EP
• THE CASKET LOTTERY – The Real Fear

- As the calendar year winds down towards its final eight or so weeks, the new release crew gets thinner, but this week includes an epic winner in the first CASKET LOTTERY full-length in nine years. Not only is it great to hear new music from the band again, but in the time between, they’ve shifted they’ve gone heavier and the guitars and bass bristle with aggression. Love it. ALL THAT REMAINS still straddle that line between wants-to-be-radio-friendly-so-hard and ‘oh yea, we can still do the thrash metal thing’. That line will not get any easier to balance fellas. WHILE SHE SLEEPS is a dumb band name. Why are we left hanging? What are you doing while she sleeps? Making pancakes? Folding laundry? Yea. I bet it’s laundry.

- Wisconsin’s ARMS ALOFT show further signs of development and maturity on their latest release, “Sawdust City”. Equal parts of LAWRENCE ARMS and LEATHERFACE inspired punk rock, the band sounds bolder and more confident than ever. Physical copies are available from Kiss of Death Records.

- Thick, murky UK hardcore/punk with harshly grounded out vocals. I admit that downloaded this mostly so I could make a playlist in iTunes that features SHELTER and NO SHELTER…

- Brand new melodic punk(ish) split release that is out on vinyl later this month via La Escalera Records. Both bands feature fairly unique sounds, especially THE SHELL CORPORATION, which for some reason, makes me think they’d be a perfect fit on the Side One Dummy roster.

• PARKWAY DRIVE – Atlas
• PEACE’D OUT – S/T EP
• EARLY GRAVES – Red Horse
• THE COUP – Sorry to Bother You
• THE FAINT – Dance Macabre (Deluxe Edition)
• BROTHERFACE – Writer
• THE SCENICS – Dead Man Walks Down Bayview

- No surprises from PARKWAY DRIVE, just more crushing, polished, and sharply tuned metalcore from the Australian mainstays. PEACE’D OUT is the highlight from this week’s batch of new releases – the all-star band of sorts assembles a screamy, post-punk/hardcore deal that is remarkably intense and technical, boxed up into a 10 minute blast. For feel good, low-key rock, THE SCENICS will be a boon to any car drive.

- CAPITAL recently (I think) added their debut release to their Bandcamp page for streaming and low-priced download. That’s a good enough reason for me to post about it again (doesn’t take much). Don’t miss out on this crucial LIHC record!