“Writhe”: American Head Charge are Whack and Tetter Than Ever

“The heavy music scene is even worse off than we left it six years ago,” American Head Charge bassist Chad Hanks tells FEARnet, where his band has unveiled a somnolent new single, “Writhe.” Funny enough, only about forty-five seconds of the song’s nearly five-minute length could reasonably be described as “heavy” — for the most part, its bare bass line and echoey vocals make it sound like a leftover from The Crow soundtrack.

Actually, that’s not fair to The Crow soundtrack — the bands on there knew how to write a decent song. “Writhe” is so subdued and structureless that it’s DOA; its lyrics contains the phrase “sleep time now,” as though to invite the listener to a nap. The shit-brown, barely-multichromatic cover of the group’s new EP is actually the perfect visual representation of the track. Machines of Loving Grace would NOT approve.

Feel free to disagree with me if you feel like being wrong — I mean, once upon a time, they were signed by Rick Rubin, so, y’know, dreams do come true. The song is streaming here. The band’s new EP, Shit, comes out July 23.