Twitching Tongues Move to “Asylum Avenue”

Up until now, I haven’t paid Twitching Tongues much attention. But like many old people, I depend on the young to tell me what’s hip, what’s cool, what’s fresh, what’s now, and Vince, who is my junior by more than a month, says there’s some heat on this band right now.

So when Noisey debuted a new Twitching Tongues track, “Asylum Avenue,” I gave it a listen… and I’m glad I did! This shit is kinda… weird. I don’t mean that in a bad way; the song went against my expectations at every turn. It starts out as a groovy/sludgy thing, like Nails at their slowest, and just when I’m thinking “Here comes the screaming!”, vocalist Colin Young drops in, sounding like Neil Fallon channeling Robb Flynn. Then the bridge sounds like a completely different song, a dreamier song, maybe the chorus from a mid-period Mastodon piece. Then the chorus sounds like a different different song, like every member of the band has suddenly been jabbed in the heart with an adrenaline needle and instructed to play some alt-metal. This is about as unpredictable as a metal song can get without being Psyopus. I dig it.

Listen to the “Asylum Avenue” below! It will appear on Twitching Tongues’ Disharmony, which drops October 30 on Metal Blade. The band goes on tour with Apostrophe’s Way, Homewrecker, and Malice at the Palace next month; get dates here.