Lab Rat, the brainchild of Australian solo artist Dylan James, drops "Rolling Loud" onto our auditory plates, and it's... a lot. Like finding a half-eaten burrito in a washing machine – unexpected, a little messy, and you're not quite sure how you feel about it. It's alt-rock grunge rap, the musical equivalent of a Frankenstein's monster stitched together with ripped denim and existential angst. https://open.spotify.com/track/2nj7SwgzSJUCoaGKBKLLeT?si=8c79aa48403b479c The...

North Star Union has released "Echoes of decay", a slice of melodic heavy metal that feels less like a standard studio tracking and more like something dug out of the permafrost. There is a curious quality to Icelandic composer Myrmann’s work here; because he handles all the instrumentation and composition himself at Midgard Studio, the track possesses a singular, frighteningly cohesive nervous system. It...