unboxable: angel du$t refuses to stand still on ‘cold 2 the touch’
Baltimore hardcore shapeshifters, Angel Du$t, are crashing back onto the scene with their new album “Cold 2 the Touch.” Released only a few months after their east coast tour with Ovlov back in November, the band proves once again that they can’t stay still for too long. Known for swerving between blistering hardcore and saccharine alt-rock, this release serves as a rejection of expectations as they continue to blur genre lines.
From the second it begins, the record instantly reintroduces Angel Du$t’s defining paradox: sugar-rush, addicting melodies wrapped in barbed wire and thorns. The opener, “Pain Is A Must,” leans into those glossy hooks, yet beneath the sheen lies the ever-present bite we’ve come to know and love from the band. Frontman Justice Tripp’s vocals mixed with Scott Vogel’s (Terror) distinct style glide over the groove of the razor-sharp riffs, toeing the line between sneer and sincerity.
Lyrically, “Cold 2 the Touch” grapples with emotional detachment, relationships and the strange numbness of adulthood; it balances self-aware humor with flashes of earnest vulnerability. The cool-toned aloofness that runs throughout the album is a stark contrast to the hooks that keep you undeniably warm and on your feet. The tension in this contradiction serves as the heartbeat of the release, beating continuously throughout the record.
Sonically, the album exhibits the band continuing their evolution from their early days transposing with members’ roots in heavier projects. The release seems to step further into power-pop territory, but doesn’t abandon what’s in their hardcore DNA. The jangly guitars throughout the project shimmer, the drums bounce and the choruses that feel perfect for windows-down drives. But make no mistake, each track is determined to bring chaos. It’s a balancing act that few can pull off without teetering on either side of the tightrope, yet Angel Du$t does it in a way that almost seems effortless. It’s impossible to put them into a box, locking the band into hardcore orthodoxy would ignore what has always made them compelling: unpredictability.
The full-length release seems to be a testament to Angel Du$t’s refusal to petrify and calcify. It’s hook-heavy without becoming hollow and slick without losing the soul. Angel Du$t continues to stretch the boundaries of the genre. They show that hardcore and pop-adjacent don’t have to be mutually exclusive. On this record, the two prove to be inseparable.
