Scowl Angels

Continuing down the same path that we took on the last post for the new Higher Power record, I also wasn't too hot on the new Scowl either. I loved their last record, but for some reason with Are We All Angels, I just couldn't get myself excited for it. I'd given the songs a couple of spins, but it felt flat to me and I kind of dismissed it. When I saw Marcus post about the record, the pink colored vinyl immedately made me want to give it another shot... plus his description of Scowl's sound for this new release sounded exactly what I'd be interested in, so again I had to adjust my restrictive mindset and approach it with a more open attitude.

I'd recently seen a clip of Scowl covering Zero by The Smashing Pumpkins at the Sound and Fury fest and I thought it was really cool, so with that alongside Marcus throwing out alt rock grunge to describe where the band is now, I suddenly found myself excited to revisit the new record. Sure Are We All Angels is another step away from the traditional hardcore sound that Scowl started with, but this is still really fucking rad. I don't know what my problem was when I first listened to this.

Yeah, pink was definitely the color vinyl for me to chase for this. Thankfully I was able to scoop one off of Discogs for a good price.

Scowl Dance Routine

It has been a bit of a struggle for me to pay much attention to new releases this year. I think that because I was so rabid for new shit last year, that I'm a bit burned out on it in 2023, and for the most part I just want to listen to stuff that I already now. I've still been buying new records, but as I look at the 18 or so of them sitting in my blog backlog, I haven't really obsessed over any of them. There is still plenty of cool new stuff that I've grabbed so far in 2023, but I'm just slow to getting around to it.

I've had the new Scowl record for a while now, but I didn't really bother giving it a spin until last week. This 12 inch is a bit of a surprise. Some songs here are not what I expected from Scowl, and when I first heard tracks like Opening Night, I thought that maybe the tour they did with Limp Bizkit might have been a bad influence, and that I was being set up for what might be the biggest disappointment of the year. However, now that I've listened to the record a few times, I think that those songs that take a different direction are quite possibly my favorite Scowl songs. I can tell that this EP is going to grow on me big time before the end of the year.

Nothing too special with this pressing, as I just went with the transparent red vinyl that is limited to 2,000 copies for REV and Deathwish. I don't care. I just prefer transparent colors and think that this one looks good with the b-side screenprint.

How Flowers Scowl

A couple months ago, I wanted to get an idea if any cool bands were coming down the pike, so I was looking at the preorder page over at REVHQ. I saw the record cover for a band I don't think that I'd heard of called Scowl. Their logo reminded me of Give, and with the description that mentioned influences of 80's hardcore and punk, I knew that I'd have to check them out.

I did a quick search on youtube and found a live studio session that was recorded earlier this year, and I figured that I'd check it out. I was in awe. I don't typically watch live recordings, but with this, I couldn't tear my eyes away. In fact, as soon as it was done, I was immediately jumping into another live set from Scowl. The band just raged, and Kat's fierce vocals had me hooked. I knew that I was going to have to get my preorder in for How Flowers Grow.

Preordering this record made me feel like I was kind of ahead of the pack. I wasn't coming in six months to a year late... poking my head out from a cave to check out what has been happening while I've been asleep. This time I felt, at least for a few seconds anyway, like I was actually in touch.