San Francisco powerviolent hardcore band OBSOLETE MAN are back with muscular double single BURNING IN WATER – DROWNING IN FLAME, and today we’re stoked to give it a proper nod with the band’s track by track rundown and their special commentary about their local scene amidst another wave of the pandemic.
Based in the Bay Area in California, OBSOLETE MAN is a hardcore band drawing influences from powerviolence, d-beat, grindcore and crust punk. Established in 2019, the band first got its start practicing in the basement of a parking garage in the Tenderloin.
OBSOLETE MAN is Devan Bleyle, Gino Colombini, Scott Wright, and Robby Bancroft.
“Kids are coming out in force now that shows are opened back up.” – says the band. “It is great to see so much support for local music. We are also very lucky that so many people in the Bay Area are down to have these amazing shows while still taking peoples safety into account regarding COVID.”
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There are a ton of local bands from California that need some recognition, so we asked OBSOLETE MAN to name their top picks that stood out in 2021.
“To name a few, BOLO is a ripping fastcore band from Sacramento” – comments the band.
“Soul Pain from the peninsula are big homies and heavy as shit.”
“And my homegirl Alyssa’s band Choking Game is a grindviolence band from Martinez that is also super rad.”
The new single from OBSOLETE MAN, βBurning in Water / Drowning in Flameβ, marks the band’s sophomore release, recorded at The Panda Studios with Charles Toshio Carver.
“The songβs lyrics are definitely a product of the pandemic.” – admits the band. “Being isolated for such a long time had an effect on all of us. These songs delve into feelings of helplessness and self depreciation.”
“Musically, we tried to match a similar sense of frustration and discontent. The two tracks were recorded and released with the intent of being a short release in between EP’s, but honestly it might be one of my fave pieces of music we have. The riffs are super fun and it feels more hardcore than our debut EP.β
The new single was recorded in conjunction with another future release! Early sometime in 2022 the band will be releasing a second 5-6 song EP with To Live A Lie Records. “We are stoked to be working with Will Butler.” – comments the band.
Track-by-track commentary:
Burning in Water – We wanted the intro track of these 2 songs to be a barrage. Keep it fast and short, start it with a discordant scream and blastbeat. Burning in Water is the more grind influenced of the two songs, and you’ll probably be able to hear some blackened/death influence during the middle passage. The lyrics on this track are a hyperbolic representation of the inability to contribute anything meaningful to existence.
Drowning in Flame – Ok, this might be out most quitessentially hardcore song that we’ve released so far. It’s also a ‘bigger’ song of the two, with pretty hefty intro’s and outro’s. This one is def to get the kids wrecking shit. I love the hook of “a constant failure, a laughing stock” over the end before it descends into realms of malmsteen-esque stupidity with a ridiculous but incredibly skilled solo by our guitarist and primary songwriter. This song was partially influenced by the fig tree metaphor in Sylvia Plathβs The Bell Jar.
Watch OBSOLETE MANβs official music video for Stoic, from their prior EP A SHORT HISTORY OF DECAY:
