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We all know this feeling of the weight of the world weighing on us. When that’s the case, one of the best escapes is to crank up the stereo with something other than pop on the program and do some headbanging.

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There’s just something cathartic to be found in the way a very loud power chord is unleashed on the listener.

It’s for good reason that some of the biggest and most enduring bands in the world tend to be hard rockers. They make music that has a good beat that you can dance to or just strut around. Maybe both, depending on your mood.

Here are five records that run the gamut from post-punk to metal and more that provide just the ticket to release some pent-up pressures.

Actors

Reanimated | Artifact folders

Gender: Postpunk/Electropop

key track: Post-traumatic love (Humans Remix)

Vancouver post-punk outfit Actors garnered great reviews for its 2021 release Acts of Work. It makes sense that a band with such club-ready sounds would let remixers go wild on their songs, and that’s exactly what Reanimated’s 15 tracks are all about. From the retro darkwave marching pulse of opener XYX to the seven different takes of the band’s single, Post Traumatic Love. This track turns 10 this year, so the original single and its B-side, Nightlife, are included here, along with a few other gems. It Goes Away should have been a huge success.

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Amon Amarth

The Great Heathen Army | Metal blade discs

Gender: Viking Metal

key track: Heidrun

One of the key players in the Viking metal scene, Sweden’s Amon Amarth, has been weaving the story of “those vicious demons from the North” into everyday metal to great effect for decades. Somehow, the band manages to revisit the well time and time again without lacking in crushing riffs and storytelling. Part of the appeal is that Johan Hegg’s vocals sound like he’s vomiting in Valhalla, while the twin guitar attack provides a consistent attack. It’s not northern European style metal loaded with solos. It’s a lot more like 70s thrash doom.

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Box

Cherry blossoms at night | Miserable pyre of secrets

Gender: Experimental Metal

key track: Devayne’s Complaint

Andrew Stormstad’s Portland’s Box project just doesn’t live up to its name. The opening rager Succumb is full of thunderous gutter thrash with elements of death metal. Then comes the psychedelic stoner rhythm of Pulse or the trippy acid haze of Soft Is The Motion. No song ever goes where you expect it to and the title track sounds like an 80s gothic pop dance hit. surprises.

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Flatliners

new ruin | Dinner Alone Records

Gender:Punk

key track: Rat King

On their first new release in five years, this Juno-nominated quartet from Toronto shows what it’s been like to be together for 20 years. The group goes from close noise to sung choruses with absolute control, without ever veering excessively. Rat King just bristles with the kind of melodic punk that puts a smile on fans’ faces as they go wild in the mosh pit, while Performative Hours is a perfect blend of loud attack paired with spitting vocals thanks to the vocalist. / guitarist Chris Cresswell. The track’s satirical video features sad TV host Ron Regal who embodies so much of what’s wrong with contemporary culture. Fun music that’s not afraid to have a message.

The Flatliners play on their 20th anniversary tour on September 8 at the Rickshaw Theater.

Ian Blurton’s future now

Second Skin | See red discs

Gender: Hard Rock

Rolling on a huge drum roll reminiscent of the heyday of bands like Blue Öyster Cult and even the New Wave of British Heavy Metal like Saxon, Ian Blurton’s Future Now is all about anything louder than anything else. . It goes in different directions over the nine album cuts. Songs such as the title track, Beyond Beholds the Moon and Trails, to the Gate/Second Skin Reprise approach heavy progressive rock with their running times of over six minutes, while the other tracks are more concise and pop-oriented. Everything is heavy though. Go somewhere else if you want a quiet time.

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