Listen To This: 5 Songs You Need To Hear Right Now (March 30, 2020)

A lot of new music passes through the Kerrang! offices on a daily basis, from pop-punk to gore metal. And while we like plenty of what we receive, there are just some tracks that we need to tell the world about the minute we hear them. Welcome to Listen To This, a new weekly column where we share five new songs that make us excited to be rock fans. For everyone out there looking for something new and interesting to start off their week, get in here – you’ve got to hear this stuff.

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Week 3 of quarantine, and all is going well. The ladybug that lives on my windowsill, Jennifer, has been working with me to find a Simpsons streaming schedule which will cause an end to the coronavirus. According to Jen (her friends call her Jen), by watching three Marge-centric episodes, a Sideshow Bob episode, and an awful latter-season celebrity vehicle on a steady loop, the human brain will create a COVID-killing antibody. With all this work to be done, how can anyone complain of Cabin Fever? Jen says it’s a myth.

Here are five new songs that made it through the tinfoil…

Photo by Ben Taylor-Vivian

For fans of: Greta Van Fleet, The Darkness, early Motörhead

Ah, the perfect middle ground. You could say that Australian quartet Datura4play highway rock, stoner metal, chill doom or downer chug, and you’d be right on all fronts, the band striking that perfect spot between overdriven and stripped down. Mother Medusa brings all sand-scattered windows-down attitude you could ask for, featuring an awesome central riff, some cardboard-ish opening toms, and a writhing harmonized solo in the middle that sounds like the hair of the song’s namesake. Will make you feel like you’re in the sweet, sweet outdoors.

Datura4’s West Coast Highway Cosmic comes out April 17.

READ THIS: 12 'new' tracks that are classics for young fans

Photo by Jamie Goodsell

For fans of: Hole, Sleep, Chevelle

More than anything, Friendship Commanders’ new track The Enemy I Know does a whole lotta yearning. The song has the drawn-out ache of classic grunge in its roiling riffs and shouted vocals of singer/guitarist Buick Audra, exuding not just that era’s depressive outlook but also its desire for something more. The video also harkens back to Seattle twenty-five years ago with its gloomy industrial vibe and overlaid after-images. Worth the listen, even if it rips your heart out.

Friendship Commanders’ five-song EP Hold On To Yourself comes out April 3.

For fans of: Mastodon, Kylesa, Jane’s Addiction

It’s not surprising that the new Moon Destroys song slaps, given that the band’s two members, multi-instrumentalist Juan Montoya and drummer Evan DiPrima, have played for bands including Torche, Royal Thunder, and Killer Be Killed. This time around, the duo are joined by Cynic’s Paul Masvidal, who brings his eerie keening vocals to this churning stoner metal track. Might go a little hard for your average pothead, but a few listens will put you in the mood.

Moon Destroys’ Maiden Voyage EP is out now on Brutal Panda Records.

Photo by Bailey Kobelin

For fans of: Bauhaus, Devil Master, The Wraith

A lot of bands cite ’80s death rock as an influence, but few make it as believable as Mystic Priestess. The Oakland quintet not only look as though they stepped out of a 45 Grave show in 1986, but they sound as though they immediately went home and wrote their new EP, The PTP Sessions. Eternal Resurrection has all the echoes, yelps, and steely guitar that made that era of goth rock awesome, genuinely channeling a sense of lo-fi spookiness that'll have fans of silent film and feathered hair snickering with vampiric glee. Just a shitload of fun.

Mystric Priestess’ PTP Sessions EP is out now.

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For fans of: Killswitch Engage, Black Map, Ice Nine Kills

Many listeners may associate Korea with massive pop anthems, but Bursters are proving that they have some solid rock chops as well. Smell The Rot is the kind of track that would make a softer metalcore band a household name, but the extra edge of acid-burn on the guitars and shriek in the vocals sets it firmly apart. At the same time, the band’s use of clean vocals and symphonic flourishes definitely makes it wonderfully listenable. The kind of track that you’ll find yourself humming for days to come.

Bursters’ Once And For All is out now on Evermore Music.

READ THIS: Bursters - The new face of Korean rock