It’s been six years since La Dispute released their last album, Panorama. Since then, the Michigan post-hardcore band—made up of Jordan Dreyer on vocals, Brad Vander Lugt on drums, Chad Morgan-Sterenberg and Corey Stroffolino on guitar, and Adam Vass on bass—dealt with the stagnance of the pandemic, celebrated the ten-year anniversaries of Wildlife and Rooms Of The House, and began working on No One Was Driving The Car. The fifth studio LP is the first entirely produced by the group, and it came together in Grand Rapids and Detroit, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines: “I think the change in environment was really helpful to breathing new life into the process each time we came back to it,” Dreyer says. Partly inspired by the 2017 psychological thriller First Reformed, No One Was Driving The Car reckons with malaise in the shadow of the looming apocalypse, which has noticeably been worsened by the advancement of tech. The title comes from a quote from a police officer Dreyer read in a news article about a lethal self-driving Tesla crash, an absurd event which raises questions about the amount of control we have in our own lives. In fourteen dynamic tracks, the band grapples with the existential topic and the human need to find comfort and a sense of security in an existence where we’re often thrust into chaos without permission. Dreyer yells with a more primal sense and sings in a more refined way, and the guitars have a sharper edge than ever before. “As much as I don’t enjoy the creative process because it’s taxing and often not fun, I also think it’s the most fun that I ever have,” Dreyer contemplates. “It’s the revelations you make, the breakthroughs. It’s banging your head against a wall and suddenly something clicks in a way that feels almost divine, like it came from somewhere else.”
From small-town girl to now a part of the Epitaph Records family, Royale Lynn has been experimenting with a nostalgic alt-metal influenced, hard-rock sound that has resonated with over 1 Million followers across socials and over 65 Million global streams. Proving her prowess for bridging the gap between two seemingly different worlds, on her full-length debut, the self-professed “metalhead from a small town” brings an extensive musical acumen and deep songwriting roots to elevate her visual and sonic identity. Over the past year Royale has scattered previews of the record with hard-hitting singles like “DEATH WISH” featuring Danny Warsnop (Asking Alexandria), a song dedicated to first responders which landed at #27 on the rock radio charts. Unafraid to tackle serious topics within her music, “BATTLEGROUND” chronicles the tumultuous experience of escaping a toxic relationship and emerging stronger and more resilient, while the powerful music video for “SACRIFICE” paints a visual picture of the darkness that can accompany mental illness.