Flavor Wave’s single, “The Optimist,” arrived less like a declaration and more like someone tentatively drawing back a dusty curtain on a grey afternoon. From West Chester, PA, these five lifelong friends – Kyle Loedel (vocals, lyrics), Matthew Stretch (lead guitar), Patrick Blair (rhythm guitar), Noah Montgomery (bass), and Joshua Speaker (performer/drums) – typically tread alternative rock paths nodding to influences like The Strokes....

Rosso Tierney unpacks a profound psychological weight on his new alternative metal single, "This Gun". Honestly, the track immediately pinned me to my chair. Tierney operates as a completely self-contained unit here, handling vocals, piano, guitar, and bass, and he uses that total control to build an impossibly dense, aggressive wall of sound. There is a relentless, heavily distorted thundering down in the low-end...