Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the top song goes to Hot Water Music for their latest single “After the Impossible.”
Post-hardcore vets Hot Water Music are clearly pouring their heart and soul into the opus that is their new album Vows. Laden with guests, the singles we’ve heard so far possess an earnest sincerity, as well as a self-awareness of the band’s legacy and beloved discography. There’s a celebratory air, no doubt.
“After the Impossible” is the latest single and features a guest appearance from City and Colour’s Dallas Green. While the track is on the more ballad-y side of the Hot Water Music songbook, the band can’t help but inject power into the playing and singing, tapping into a passionate urgency that makes the song soar.
Related Video
Hot Water Music also went above and beyond with the music video. Instead of conceptualizing the love-song lyrics literally, the clip is a full-on ’80s sci-fi/fantasy treatment in the vein of The Goonies and The Neverending Story. Watch the James Poitier-directed video below.
Honorable Mentions:
Bleeding Through – “Our Brand Is Chaos”
“Fuck with us and find out!”
How’s that for an opening refrain? The latest in a string of singles from metalcore vets Bleeding Through has some European metal trappings. Prominent keyboards and progressive guitar flourishes are always at home in this weekly recap and fit well in the context of the band’s general harshness.
Kittie – “Vultures”
The new Kittie songs have been overflowing with badass riffs, and “Vultures” is no exception. This is lean-mean thrash with that ’90s groove a la Pantera and Sepultura. A fine way to announce the Canadian bands’s first new album in 13 years, appropriately dubbed Fire.
Thou – “Unbidden Guest”
Utterly filthy sludge-crust metal from underground vets Thou. Again, the band move at a quick, pummeling tempo, giving off major Eyehategod vibes (must be in the water down in NOLA). We’ve also gotta call attention to maybe the greatest YouTube visualizer of all-time. As one commenter put it: “When you buy a stock footage subscription and are damn well going to get your money’s worth.”