Usaisamonster, The

A decade since their last record, DIY noise-rock monolith The Usaisamonster has reformed, and is dropping a new album on the End of the World. The album, Amikwag, arrives Nov. 6, 2020 via the NYC-based artist-run label, Yeggs Records. Colin Langenus and Tom Hohmann do not pick up where they left off. Amikwag carries a different sort of intelligence and heaviness, prioritizing space and vocal connection distinct from the awesome leaden bombs of prog they lobbed in years past. Langenus's post-Monster work as a sound-engineer endowed him with a utilitarian knowledge of contemporary pop music. He has a toolkit and the aptitude to use it, just as Hohmann's activist-vigilance targets those dire existential threats as they emerge in real time. The Usaisamonster seizes on a revolutionary cultural moment and a socio-sonic vision of the apocalypse.