MUSIC

Soul Glo (2024)

Philadelphia, PA

The bruising hardcore of Soul Glo has been smashing genres and thrilling listeners for a decade. The trio – composed of GG Guerra, TJ Stevenson and Pierce Jordan – hold up a broken mirror to the 21st century with rage and fun.

In 2015, Soul Glo issued their first EP, an untitled collection of acidic punk rock that punctuates thoughtful commentary with raised fists. It’s an album willing to break the past to envision a new future, with the scorching track “Guilty Of Being… Wait” updating an old Minor Threat anthem. Another untitled album came a year later, introducing avant-garde breakdowns and pointed lyrics that declare, “Comfort is a fallacy afforded by complacency.” The band’s next release in 2019 interrupted the punk rushes with hip-hop verses and jazzy chords, blazing a path for Soul Glo to sign with Epitaph Records in 2021 and tour with Sheer Mag and My Chemical Romance.

Major label debut Diaspora Problems grabbed the world by the collar and gave a fierce shake. Across 12 blistering tracks, Soul Glo careens from breathless shredding on “John J” to tripped-out sampling on “Driponomics,” a speaker-breaking banger with guest verses by Mother Maryrose. Rolling Stone named it the best metal album of 2022.

Latest Soul Glo single “If I Speak (Shut The Fuck Up)” rides a droning bass line into an intoxicating wall of noise as vocalist Jordan yells a mission statement: “If I speak, I’m coming through elbows first.” Make way for those elbows when Soul Glo tears up Sled Island this June.