Album Review: Are We All Angels by Scowl

Maybe next time. How easy it would be to stand up here and turn this review into a State of the Union Address on Scowl vs. the mouthbreathers of r/hardcore and other curmudgeons who gatekeep genre purity and like to maintain their scene as a no-fun zone, but it's an argument that isn't worth any well-adjusted person's time. Of course, going soft and doing Pabst Blue Ribbon sponsorships as a hardcore band isn't a great way to harbour good will amongst DIY lifers, but this is an album review, and I find it hard to criticize any band for finding relative success through pursuing art.

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Emerging from a resurgent Californian hardcore scene, Scowl have been impressing audiences since their incendiary debut, 2021's How Flowers Grow. Musically, they were a fun throwback to thrashy influences of the 80s and 90s, while vocalist Kat Moss's snarl and charisma gave the band a distinct focal point on stage. Even in those earlier days, however, Scowl displayed a prowess for poppier melodies, a technique they would develop expertly on 2023 EP Psychotic Dance Routine.

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Considering how aggressive hardcore music is, and how much the spirit of it is about personal freedom, it's sometimes surprising to see how hyper-sensitive and judgmental the scene can be. The bruising Northern California quintet Scowl were always different — and not only because they have a female singer, Kat Moss, who isn't afraid to dress glam when she wants to. Yet as they're evolving their sound from the tight boundaries of hardcore into something more melodic and refined, they're getting cries of "sellout" from more puritan corners, exacerbated by their move to a larger indie label (Dead Oceans) and collaborations with brands like Converse and Taco Bell (which is even more ironic, considering that they've pulled out of festivals that were sponsored by the U.

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Much like a certain infamous condiment, we imagine that the new album from Californian hardcore outfit Scowl is likely to stir up some fairly extreme opinions. While the Santa Cruz quintet firmly put their stamp on the genre with their 2021 debut 'How Flowers Grow' - an album that saw them hailed as one of hardcore's great new hopes - it's with their second release (and first for new label home, Dead Oceans) that they've pushed decidedly out of hardcore's traditional constraints, instead adding scuzzy textures and pop melodies to their already fierce melding pot. Like the much-touted Turnstile before them, 'Are We All Angels' is a record that sees the band choosing to pair pummelling guitars and ferocious riffs with a sense of levity; this time, mostly down to the singing of vocalist Kat Moss, which, in moments - as on opener 'Special' - feels closer to the early work of Sleigh Bells or Purity Ring than their current counterparts.

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Thank God the sun's out, eh? Anyone else not realise how much vitamin D they were lacking? The world might be a mess but at least we can now face it with a bit more serotonin coursing through our veins. This upbeat belter from Scowl will also go some way to help boost your newfound spring/summer good mood. Hailing from aptly-sunny Santa Cruz, California, the five-piece hardcore crew have ridden atop the phenomenal wave of interest that has swept across the scene over the last five or more years.

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